Urban Purveyor Group acquire Neil Perry’s Rockpool Group

As they approach the end of what has been a tremendous year of growth, hospitality juggernaut Urban Purveyor Group have announced a merger with Neil Perry’s Rockpool Group to create what is now known as Rockpool Dining Group. It’s a coup for the Quadrant Private Equity backed group, who have employed global hospitality veteran Thomas Pash to serve as Chief Executive Officer in collaboration with Perry, who will moving into a new role as Head of Culinary.

Now that the two have become one, the group’s profile has been give a massive boost adding the likes of Rockpool Bar & Grill, Spice Temple, Rosetta and Burger Project to UPG’s Saké Restaurant & Bar, Fratelli Fresh, The Cut Steakhouse, Café Ananas, and more. The total portfolio now includes 47 venues and 15 dining brands as well as a brewing company and production kitchen.

It however does not appear that Perry’s Eleven Bridge will be included in the new group.

UPG have already been quite busy this year, particularly with the debut of various fast-causal spin offs of Sake, Bavarian Bief Cafe, and Fratelli Fresh some of which have tapped into to do-it-yourself and dual trends that are slowly seeping into dining scenes across Sydney and Melbourne.

The penchant for rapid growth will obviously spill over to these new ventures, a dedication which will soon see more than 20 fast-casual brand openings for Burger Project, Sake Jr, Fratelli Famous, and The Bavarian in the next few months. Some of these will be dual venues, such as Sake and Fratelli Fresh teaming up at Darling Harbour’s new International Convention Centre, part of a planned expansion to over 80 venues over the next 12 months. A new Rosetta will also open at Sydney Grosvenor Place (where a Sake Jr opened not too long ago) and a Rockpool is planned for Brisbane sometime late next year.

Also on the cards seems to be a small format version of Spice Temple, and a Rockpool Bar Series, and potential fine-dining restaurants in London and Los Angeles.

“Our portfolio includes some of the best concepts and brands in the industry,” offered Pash. “Together we are stronger across key dining segments, from premium to fast-casual, we have a larger geographic footprint, and we have a wider portfolio of international cuisines and fantastic restaurant names that can be expanded to cater to a growing and more inquisitive dining public.”

Feature image: Rockpool

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Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.