Chicago Rib Shack boss provides food for thought

EMC Management Consultants hosted its fifth Entrepreneurs’ Evening, in conjunction with Close Brothers, at the Hotel du Vin in Brighton.

Guest speaker was Christian Arden, a seasoned operator of restaurants and bars and current CEO of the fast-growing Chicago Rib Shack chain.

After opening and subsequently selling two up-market restaurants in the ‘90s, Christian founded the Po Na Na Group Plc, an AIM listed group of late night bars and clubs, which he led to 40 sites and a turnover of £35 million. The business was subsequently sold to Eclectic Bars.

In 2008 Christian was recruited by the owners of the Chicago Rib Shack, Knightsbridge, which at the time was heavily loss making. Under his leadership the restaurant increased sales by 50% and moved to profit within 12 months. The site was eventually sold for a significant premium in 2012.  

In 2011/12 Christian and a few friendly investors raised £300,000 in seed funding to re-launch the Chicago Rib Shack brand in the growing world of fast casual dining with its first site at Westfield Stratford. Since then Chicago Rib Shack Ltd, with the support of Rockpool, raised £1.5 million of EIS funding and it now operates four sites with three more in the pipeline. Christian also owns Cavendish Bars which trades in Oxford, Brighton and London.

EMC CEO Nik Askaroff said: “We started our series of Entrepreneurs’ Evening with the objective of giving local business leaders the opportunity to meet and hear from nationally-recognised figures whose records of entrepreneurial achievement and business success might provide them with some useful food for thought.

“Christian has enjoyed a successful career starting, building and selling businesses in the hospitality industry, and I’m sure most of our 50 guests will have benefitted from listening to him talk about his experiences.”