Harvester is a British

casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

with over 230 outlets (as of December 2015) in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The first location was The George Inn, opening in 1983 in Morden, Greater London. The chain was seen before as a rival to

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

's Beefeater restaurants.

Bass

On 21 July 1995,

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

bought the seventy eight restaurants of Harvester for £165 million. Whitbread had offered £150 million for the chain. Most Harvesters were in the South East, and Bass had plans to rebrand other restaurants (such as the former Innkeeper's Fayre) elsewhere in England as Harvesters. When Bass divested its brewing division in 2000, the chain was looked after by the renamed company,

Six Continents Six Continents was a large British-based hotel and hospitality business which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was formed in June 2000 when the brewing business of ...

, until 2003.

Mitchells & Butlers

On 15 April 2003, the chain Six Continents was taken over by the renamed company, Mitchells & Butlers, and had 127 outlets. By 2012, there were over two hundred hotels across the United Kingdom. The brand grew far larger after the purchase of a large number of Brewers Fayres and

Beefeaters The Yeomen Warders of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. ...

from

Return to television and radio advertising

For the first time in ten years, Harvester Restaurants spent nearly £20,000 on advertising on both television in the United Kingdom, and radio stations in July 2010. The advertising campaign was part of a general shift within Mitchells & Butlers, to focus on businesses that were food led. As part of the marketing campaign, they also run "free ice cream vouchers when you order main meal" campaigns periodically.

Sustainability

In November 2015, the chain was the worst out of seven restaurants surveyed that failed to meet a basic level of sustainability in its seafood.

References

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