Bella Italia
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
| Parent | Casual Dining Group |
| Website | www |
Bella Italia (formerly known as Bella Pasta) is a chain of over 90 Italian restaurants operating in the United Kingdom. The chain is part of the Casual Dining Group, who also own Café Rouge and Las Iguanas.
Bella Italia started life as two small restaurant chains - Pastificio and Pizzaland - which were part of the Grand Metropolitan group.
In 1990, Michael Guthrie (former Chairman of Mecca Leisure Group) formed BrightReasons and bought the Pizzaland and Pastificio chains from Grand Metropolitan for £20m in February 1991, rebranding Pastificio to Bella Pasta in the process.
In February 1993, BrightReasons purchased 43 Pizza Piazza and Prima Pasta restaurants from Rank Organisation for £20.25m, bringing their total number of restaurants to 165.
In May 1994, BrightReasons started preparing for a stock market flotation, and the group was expected to be valued at between £70m-£100m. This was subsequently announced in September, however, in November 1994, the planned flotation was postponed.
In November 1996, BrightReasons was put up for sale after suffering a particularly tough trading period in 1995.
In December 2002, the Bella Pasta chain was rebranded as Bella Italia and the first fully branded restaurant opened in Leeds.
In September 2012, Bella Italia joined the Nectar loyalty card reward scheme as a redemption partner.
In September 2013, Bella Italia began a partnership with the Gourmet Society, offering their members discounts on production of a Gourmet Society restaurant discount card.
In June 2012, Bella Italia began officially supporting The Children's Society by donating some of the profit from a selected dish on the menu to the charity.
In 2013, Bella Italia officially partnered with Comic Relief, the British charity founded in 1985 that aims to "bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people."
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Wikipedia