First Street Bar & Kitchen at Innside Manchester

Gino D’Acampo Hotels & Leisure and Innside by Meliá are joining forces in a deal that’ll see the TV chef open several upmarket Italian restaurants with the lifestyle hotel brand, starting in Manchester.

Innside by Meliá is strengthening its F&B offering with the help of one of the UK’s most high-profile chefs.

A new hospitality empire

Gino D’Acampo Hotels & Leisure and Innside, part of Spanish giant Meliá Hotels International, have announced a UK-wide strategic partnership that aims to ‘create a new hospitality empire, setting a new standard for accessible, modern hospitality and curating a series of restaurants and bars’.

D’Acampo, best known for appearing on TV shows like Gino’s Italian Escape and This Morning, plans to make use of his contacts with artisan suppliers to ensure guests can enjoy recipes made from the very best ingredients. Menus will only feature dishes created by the chef and his team.

Innside’s growing UK portfolio

The fast-growing lifestyle hotel brand currently operates Innside Manchester, which made its debut in 2015, and the newly opened Innside Newcastle, while Innside Liverpool is scheduled to launch on Monday, 16 August 2021.

Garry Fortune, cluster general manager at Meliá Hotels International, said: “This is a very exciting time, as two lifestyle and destination hospitality brands come together to create a new presence in the UK. It comes at a time when Innside by Meliá is expanding the brand across the UK, Europe and Asia; with our new opening in Newcastle imminent and Liverpool following this summer.

“Gino D’Acampo is an obvious choice for us, due to its modern and stylish dining experience, and its successful internal operational structure. We will create unique experiences with Gino D’Acampo, creating a dining hotspot for locals, business and leisure travellers alike.”

Innside Manchester’s new restaurant

The collaboration kicks off with the launch of all-day dining venue First Street Bar & Kitchen at Innside Manchester, which is being managed and operated by D’Acampo’s team. This May 2021 opening comes on the back of a £250,000 investment from Gino D’Acampo Hotels & Leisure in new kitchen facilities, an extended terrace wrapping around two sides of the building, and operations.

First Street Bar & Kitchen is expected to be the first of several launches involving D’Acampo and Innside, with further announcements to follow in the weeks ahead.

D’Acampo said: “After many years of talking to Meliá about a partnership, I am super-excited to be working with Garry and the team. I want the restaurants to not only provide great Italian food to hotel guests, but to be a destination for food lovers to hang out from morning until night in cool surroundings.

“My team will be working in partnership with Meliá to deliver the highest standard of foodservice for guests, whether they are dining in my restaurant, attending a conference or celebrating a special occasion. I cannot wait to get started.”

The first Gino D’Acampo My Restaurant site launched in Manchester’s Corn Exchange in 2015. In addition, the chef announced a partnership with Next in 2017 and currently has three restaurants in the fashion retailer’s stores, while he has also published a string of bestselling Italian cookbooks.

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