Gondola Group, the company behind Byron Burgers, Pizza Express, Ask, Kettners and Zizi; is to improve its overall performance by transforming a number of underperforming Ask restaurants into its key brand Pizza Express.
The company had hoped to open a new Pizza Express in the Welch Way shopping centre in Oxford but could not reach an agreement on a proposed extension of a unit with new landlords. It will now instead open the brand at its Ask site in the Market Square which will close for refurbishment on November 10.
Gondola is also swapping its Ask site in Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk for a PizzaExpress. The Sudbury site has been one of 15 Asks on the market with property agent Fleurets, with premiums of up to £150,000 sought. The Sudbury restaurant, which has a rent of £62,227 per annum, had a premium of £45,000 suggested in sale details.