Browns Restaurants

Browns Restaurants is a British chain of restaurants, mostly located in the south of England.

Browns was the first hospitality venture established by millionaire Jeremy Mogford, who in 1973 invested £10,000 (of which £2,500 was borrowed from his father) in the first Browns Restaurant and Bar in Brighton, East Sussex. He established a chain of seven restaurants, mostly in university towns such as Bristol or Cambridge, with an annual turnover of £15 million. In 1996, Mogford sold the Browns chain to Bass Brewery for £35 million. [ [http://archive.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/1999/12/14/80138.html The changing face of Oxford] , "This is Oxfordshire", 14 December 1999.]

Mogford was regarded as one of the industry's best and most enlightened employers, which was reflected in a low staff turnover rate, and saw Mogford and his restaurants used as a case study in a hospitality and entrepreneurship text book illustrating commitment to employees. [cite book |title=Entrepreneurship in the Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Industries |last=Morrison |first=Alison J. |authorlink= |coauthors=Mike Rimington, Claire Williams |year=1999 |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |location=Oxford |isbn=0750640979 |pages=16 ] In addition, Browns was profiled in a widely-used capacity management study by Deterministics Inc. for Cornell University's "Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly" journal. [Sill, Brian; Robert Decker: [http://cqx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/3/22 Applying Capacity-management Science: The Case of Browns Restaurants] , "Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly", Vol. 40, No. 3, 22-30 (1999), Cornell University.]

The chain now consists of fourteen restaurants – in Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford and Windsor, and six restaurants in London.

Brown's Restaurant in Bristol is a listed building that has previously been the City Museum and Library and also the University Refectory and Dining Room.

References

External links

* [http://www.browns-restaurants.com/ Official web site]