Richard Caring
Encyclopedia
Richard Caring, is an English
billionaire businessman of American
, Italian
and Jewish descent, who made his fortune in fashion
, and latterly property
and restaurants.
Having made his fortune through supplying Hong Kong
manufactured fashion, after a near-death experience during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
, he has greatly diversified his business interest into restaurants and nightclubs, and increased his charitable contributions. Caring is ranked number 146 on the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List
-American
GI stationed in London during World War II
, and Sylvia Parnes, the married Jewish-immigrant Jewish nurse who met him in the ambulance
on his way to hospital, and cared for him during his recovery. After deciding to stay in London post war, the couple married. Caringi anglicized his surname and set up in the clothing industry in offices off Great Portland Street
, north of Oxford Street
. Louis Caring Originals sourced knitwear for retailers including Marks & Spencer
.
Richard was brought up in Finchley
, North London
, and enjoyed playing Monopoly
. His sporting prowess at golf
playing off of scratch, resulted in him representing Middlesex
at county-level, and being accepted into Millfield School in Somerset
on a 10-shilling-a-week sporting scholarship.
However, the family business was in trouble. In the designer-led 1960s, Caring's father didn't understand fashion
, and the resulting losses in the business threatened losing the family home. At the time, Louis Caring Originals had become a dress manufacturer that employed seven people. Caring had a girlfriend at the Royal College of Art
, with whom he ran up a range of mini-skirts, selling them for 69s 6d (£3.475 in decimalisation
), that cost us £2 to make. With an initial target was 200 a week, after a few years they were selling 25,000 a week:
In 1971 Caring first visited Hong Kong
, where labour and materials were far cheaper than in Britain. Until this point, Hong Kong made basic clothing cheaply, such as underpants
. Spending a year living out of a suitcase
and resident in one hotel, Caring educated local manufacturers through producing the same garment over and over again to get the quality right. Resultantly one of the first western high fashion buyers to develop localised Chinese
relationships, he returned to the UK to sell the new high quality but cheaper garments to UK retailers.
Forming International Clothing Designs (ICD) to exploit the new opportunity, Caring moved his family permanently to Hong Kong in 1979. Due to its international trading nature, the companies structure and holdings are complex, held through a series of off-shore companies and trusts, making it hard to detect Caring’s full earnings from the fashion world. The daring manouvre worked, and Caring cornered the market in fast fashion. ICD at its height supplied 70% of the clothing sold by British high street retailers, supplying Marks & Spencer, Mothercare
and Next.
It was through ICD and its trading that he met and developed his relationship with Sir Philip Green
, the fashion retailer. Still to this day, ICD is the dominant supplier to Arcadia Group
, the Green-owned fashion retail chain that includes Dorothy Perkins
, Topshop
and Top Man. Not the normal retailer/supplier set-up but described as more of a partnership, Caring presenting Green with a Ferrari F430 Spider for his 50th birthday:
For less then a year, Caring worked for Green, and he is still a supplier to the chain. Caring is a minority shareholder in Arcadia, through his offshore companies to evade paying tax in England.
Caring supplied Next via a joint venture company NV, but sold his share in the 1990s back to the retailer. He also built a joint venture to supply Freemans
catalogues, again now sold to the partner. He also co-developed the Together brand, which after buying out partners he sold to German
catalogue firm Otto Versand. In 2004/5, ICD saw sales drop to £74.2m from £85.5m, making a pre-tax loss of £523,644 from a £3.99m profit the year before after an exceptional loss on the sale of designer label Amanda Wakeley
. In 2007, Caring looked at buying the distressed Prada
brand.
ICD is a smaller operation in the UK than it was, but still today employs 250 people, focused for expansion on selling into the United States. Based between Fitzroy Square
and Euston Road
, Caring's office is a bespoke built top-floor addition, with a fully equipped bar and a roof terrace that faces south across the West End
. His personal office includes drawings by Degas, a Matisse, and a Henry Moore
sculpture bronze of a mother and child, lifted in by crane.
while resident in Hong Kong, ploughing back profits from clothing sourcing into other assets. His first UK publicised deal was the £40m purchase of a large part of the Camden Market
complex in 2004.
Later that same year, his friend Elliott Bernard called him to see whether, as an avid golfer, he might be interested in buying Wentworth Golf Club. In partnership with then minority shareholder, airport hotel entrepreneur Surinder Arora
, the pair paid £130m, £50m more than the club’s book value at the time:
Caring has since bought the existing US Embassy in Grosvenor Square
, which he plans to turn into luxury flats.
period, Caring and his sons were scuba diving
in the Maldives
. On Boxing Day
, the dive-master suggested they sail to an atoll
and dive nearby. Anchored on the northside of the atoll, they dived to 100 feet (30.5 m) for 45 minutes. On their return to the surface, Caring received calls from friends around the world asking: "Are you all right?"
Protected by the atoll, the divers had "felt a blip, but it could have been a big boat." Divers on the southside of the atoll in the path of the tsunami were later found washed-up 100 miles (160.9 km) away. Sir Philip Green sent his private jet to pick the family up, and Caring donated £1million to the tsunami relief fund:
. He approached his favourite restaurant Le Caprice in summer 2005, but as discussions deteriorated Caring joked it was costing him so much he might as well buy the whole Le Caprice group; it emerged that the management was looking for a buyer.
Six weeks later, after selling designer evening wear label Amanda Wakeley, Caring secured a £31.5m deal to take over Caprice Holdings, owner of The Ivy
, Le Caprice and J Sheekey, as well as Italian restaurant Daphne’s, Vietnam
ese restaurant Bam-Bou and the Moroccan
Pasha restaurant.
Caring began to reshape the group, which created much media coverage for someone who previously preferred to stay out of the limelight. In 2005 he added fish restaurant Scott’s and catering firm Urban Productions, but sold Pasha to Algeria
n restaurateur Tony Kitous. He also bought Signature Restaurants from Luke Johnson for £57m, owner of mid-market Strada
and Belgo
chains. In 2006 he bought Rivington, a two-restaurant group independently set up by Caprice Holding’s chef director Mark Hix
. After rapidly expanding Strada in 18months, he sold it on for £145m, before buying the Bath & Racquets Club and George. In 2007 he purchased the Birley Group (Annabel's
, Harry's Bar, Mark's Club) for £95m including the vast art collection, concluded just a few months before Mark Birley
’s death. In 2008 he agreed a leveraged buyout
of 28 small investors in private members club Soho House
, taking 80% for £105m, with the remainder held by Nick Jones who remains CEO, also his partner in Cecconi’s. Caring also owns stakes in Cote (formed by the former management team of Strada), and Alternative Investment Market
listed chain Carluccio's.
The speed with which Caring has built his restaurant chain has resulted in many questioning his reasoning, on both a strategic level
as well as the high purchase prices paid. Dubbed by some as "the Lex Luther of Mayfair" for his apparent supermarket-sweep approach to buying companies; other critics say he is brandishing a credit card, playing a high-stakes game of Monopoly, buying every square he lands on. Further, a caricature
appeared in Tatler
magazine of Caring as James Bond
villain Blofeld, stroking a white cat.
But Caring insists he has a masterplan:
Caring's strategy is built around three brands that he believes can travel, with an existing core membership across them of 60,000 people:
These core brands are now being rolled out across the globe, with openings including: Le Caprice New York; Cecconi's Miami; Soho House, via £130m credit line supplied by HBoS
, in Berlin, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
Restaurant critic AA Gill has commented:
to fund the United Kingdom general election, 2005
. Caring was not later implicated or named as part of the Cash for Honours investigation. The loan monies have since been repaid.
In February 2008, Caring attended the Conservative Parties
Black and White Ball in Battersea Park
, at which he donated an auction prize of an evening’s hire of Annabels. raising £70,000.
Due to his parentage and high amount of time spent overseas, Caring is non-domiciled for taxation
purposes in the United Kingdom. Caring has commented on politics:
Caring supports the NSPCC
, donating £3.5m a year to the charities Fresh Start centre in Camden
, to combat child abuse and paedophilia. In 2005, he organised a charity costume “Napoleonic Ball” for the NSPCC in St Petersburg's Catherine Palace
, Russia
, featuring a performance by Sir Elton John
. Caring spent £8m flying in 450 guests in by private jet, including Bob Geldof
and former US president Bill Clinton
, raising £11m.
-born model Jacqueline Stead, the daughter of a retired British Army
major, who was brought up in Shenfield, Essex and attended the Brentwood Ursuline Convent School, at a catwalk show. She gave up modelling three days after the couple met. The couple have two sons, who were raised in Hong Kong: Jamie, a vice-president of MTV Networks Europe
; and Ben, who works for Soho House.
The family live in Hampstead
, North London
, in a house known as the Versailles
of London. It has a 55 feet (16.8 m) ballroom
, a cinema
, a dining room
that seats 30; and a 2 acre (0.00809372 km²) garden with a lake. The couple also have homes in Hong Kong, and own the former stables of Pixton Park
in Dulverton
, on the Somerset/Devon
borders. Bought in 2005, it has an interior designed by Tara Bernerd, daughter of Elliott Bernerd, and is presently subject to a planning application for a "Winter Palace". Extending to 500 acres (2 km²), the property was purchased to allow Caring to enjoy his hobby of shooting, and also holds a pet-holding of deer
.
Caring keeps himself fit, by running
every day on Hampstead Heath
with his German Shepherd dogs, and by skipping meals, never eating breakfast or lunch if he can avoid them.
His friends include Scottish philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter
, and property developer Robert Tchenguiz
, with whom he plays poker
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
billionaire businessman of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and Jewish descent, who made his fortune in fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
, and latterly property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
and restaurants.
Having made his fortune through supplying Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
manufactured fashion, after a near-death experience during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
, he has greatly diversified his business interest into restaurants and nightclubs, and increased his charitable contributions. Caring is ranked number 146 on the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List
Sunday Times Rich List
The Sunday Times Rich List is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom, updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times since 1989...
Biography
Richard Caring is the middle child of three children born to Louis Caringi, an ItalianItalian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
GI stationed in London during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and Sylvia Parnes, the married Jewish-immigrant Jewish nurse who met him in the ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
on his way to hospital, and cared for him during his recovery. After deciding to stay in London post war, the couple married. Caringi anglicized his surname and set up in the clothing industry in offices off Great Portland Street
Great Portland Street
Great Portland Street is a street in the West End of London. Linking Oxford Street with Albany Street and the busy A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road, the road forms the boundary between Fitzrovia to the east and Marylebone to the west...
, north of Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
. Louis Caring Originals sourced knitwear for retailers including Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
.
Richard was brought up in Finchley
Finchley
Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, and enjoyed playing Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
. His sporting prowess at golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
playing off of scratch, resulted in him representing Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
at county-level, and being accepted into Millfield School in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
on a 10-shilling-a-week sporting scholarship.
Career
After recognising his talent at golf was not sufficient to make an income, Caring left Millfield aged 16 and joined a shopping centre development company as an office boy:However, the family business was in trouble. In the designer-led 1960s, Caring's father didn't understand fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
, and the resulting losses in the business threatened losing the family home. At the time, Louis Caring Originals had become a dress manufacturer that employed seven people. Caring had a girlfriend at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
, with whom he ran up a range of mini-skirts, selling them for 69s 6d (£3.475 in decimalisation
Decimalisation
Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency that is based on one basic unit of currency and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, most commonly 100....
), that cost us £2 to make. With an initial target was 200 a week, after a few years they were selling 25,000 a week:
In 1971 Caring first visited Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, where labour and materials were far cheaper than in Britain. Until this point, Hong Kong made basic clothing cheaply, such as underpants
Underpants
-Boxer shorts:Boxer shorts, or simply boxers, have an elasticated waistband that is at or near the wearer's waist, while the leg sections are fairly loose and extend to the mid-thigh. There is usually a fly, either with or without buttons...
. Spending a year living out of a suitcase
Suitcase
A suitcase is a general term for a distinguishable form of luggage. It is often a somewhat flat, rectangular-shaped bag with rounded/square corners, either metal, hard plastic or made of cloth, vinyl or leather that more or less keeps its shape. It has a carrying handle on one side and is used...
and resident in one hotel, Caring educated local manufacturers through producing the same garment over and over again to get the quality right. Resultantly one of the first western high fashion buyers to develop localised Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
relationships, he returned to the UK to sell the new high quality but cheaper garments to UK retailers.
Forming International Clothing Designs (ICD) to exploit the new opportunity, Caring moved his family permanently to Hong Kong in 1979. Due to its international trading nature, the companies structure and holdings are complex, held through a series of off-shore companies and trusts, making it hard to detect Caring’s full earnings from the fashion world. The daring manouvre worked, and Caring cornered the market in fast fashion. ICD at its height supplied 70% of the clothing sold by British high street retailers, supplying Marks & Spencer, Mothercare
Mothercare
Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
and Next.
It was through ICD and its trading that he met and developed his relationship with Sir Philip Green
Philip Green
Sir Philip Green is a British businessman. Green was born into a Jewish family in 1952, beginning as a businessman at the age of 15. The first and last quoted company Green took lead of was "Amber Day", from which he stepped down as CEO and Chairman in 1992...
, the fashion retailer. Still to this day, ICD is the dominant supplier to Arcadia Group
Arcadia Group
The Arcadia Group Limited a British company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and BHS, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
, the Green-owned fashion retail chain that includes Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins, whose trading name was inspired by a rambler rose of the same name, is a large British women's clothing retailer, active mostly in the United Kingdom.- History :...
, Topshop
Topshop
Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
and Top Man. Not the normal retailer/supplier set-up but described as more of a partnership, Caring presenting Green with a Ferrari F430 Spider for his 50th birthday:
For less then a year, Caring worked for Green, and he is still a supplier to the chain. Caring is a minority shareholder in Arcadia, through his offshore companies to evade paying tax in England.
Caring supplied Next via a joint venture company NV, but sold his share in the 1990s back to the retailer. He also built a joint venture to supply Freemans
Freemans
Freemans is a British catalogue clothing retailer.Freemans was founded in 1904 with four staff, and acquired by Otto GmbH in 1999. In 2000 its administrative department was merged with Grattan plc, under the banner of Otto UK....
catalogues, again now sold to the partner. He also co-developed the Together brand, which after buying out partners he sold to German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
catalogue firm Otto Versand. In 2004/5, ICD saw sales drop to £74.2m from £85.5m, making a pre-tax loss of £523,644 from a £3.99m profit the year before after an exceptional loss on the sale of designer label Amanda Wakeley
Amanda Wakeley
Amanda Wakeley OBE was born in 1962, and educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College. She is a self-taught designer who worked for Go Silk in New York before launching under her own signature label in 1990....
. In 2007, Caring looked at buying the distressed Prada
Prada
Prada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women , founded by Mario Prada.-Foundations:...
brand.
ICD is a smaller operation in the UK than it was, but still today employs 250 people, focused for expansion on selling into the United States. Based between Fitzroy Square
Fitzroy Square
Fitzroy Square is one of the Georgian squares in London and is the only one found in the central London area known as in Fitzrovia.The square, nearby Fitzroy Street and the Fitzroy Tavern in Charlotte Street have the family name of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, into whose ownership the land...
and Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
, Caring's office is a bespoke built top-floor addition, with a fully equipped bar and a roof terrace that faces south across the West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. His personal office includes drawings by Degas, a Matisse, and a Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
sculpture bronze of a mother and child, lifted in by crane.
Property
It is proposed by many that Caring first started investing in propertyProperty
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
while resident in Hong Kong, ploughing back profits from clothing sourcing into other assets. His first UK publicised deal was the £40m purchase of a large part of the Camden Market
Camden Market
The Camden Markets are a number of adjoining large markets in Camden Town near the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent's Canal , often called collectively "Camden Market" or "Camden Lock". The stalls sell crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, fast food, and other things...
complex in 2004.
Later that same year, his friend Elliott Bernard called him to see whether, as an avid golfer, he might be interested in buying Wentworth Golf Club. In partnership with then minority shareholder, airport hotel entrepreneur Surinder Arora
Surinder Arora
Surinder Arora is a Punjabi English businessman whose hotel business is believed to make him worth £225 million. He concentrates on hotels near airports, making a specialty of providing rooms for aircrew, and has close links with British Airways and a strong personal interest in aviation In 2009...
, the pair paid £130m, £50m more than the club’s book value at the time:
Caring has since bought the existing US Embassy in Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the exclusive Mayfair district of London, England. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from their surname, "Grosvenor".-History:...
, which he plans to turn into luxury flats.
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
In 2004 over the ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
period, Caring and his sons were scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
in the Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
. On Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
, the dive-master suggested they sail to an atoll
Atoll
An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
and dive nearby. Anchored on the northside of the atoll, they dived to 100 feet (30.5 m) for 45 minutes. On their return to the surface, Caring received calls from friends around the world asking: "Are you all right?"
Protected by the atoll, the divers had "felt a blip, but it could have been a big boat." Divers on the southside of the atoll in the path of the tsunami were later found washed-up 100 miles (160.9 km) away. Sir Philip Green sent his private jet to pick the family up, and Caring donated £1million to the tsunami relief fund:
Restaurants and private members clubs
After buying Wentworth, Caring realised he needed to raise the standard of foodFood
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
. He approached his favourite restaurant Le Caprice in summer 2005, but as discussions deteriorated Caring joked it was costing him so much he might as well buy the whole Le Caprice group; it emerged that the management was looking for a buyer.
Six weeks later, after selling designer evening wear label Amanda Wakeley, Caring secured a £31.5m deal to take over Caprice Holdings, owner of The Ivy
The Ivy
The Ivy is a restaurant in West Street, near Covent Garden in London. It opened in 1917 and is popular with celebrities and theatre goers. In 2000, the restaurant was awarded the Moët & Chandon London Restaurant Award for excellence....
, Le Caprice and J Sheekey, as well as Italian restaurant Daphne’s, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese restaurant Bam-Bou and the Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
Pasha restaurant.
Caring began to reshape the group, which created much media coverage for someone who previously preferred to stay out of the limelight. In 2005 he added fish restaurant Scott’s and catering firm Urban Productions, but sold Pasha to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n restaurateur Tony Kitous. He also bought Signature Restaurants from Luke Johnson for £57m, owner of mid-market Strada
Strada
Strada is a chain of Italian restaurants in the UK. It was spawned by Luke Johnson. It has 64 restaurants, mostly in the South of England with a few in the Midlands, North of England and in Wales. It is positioned as upmarket of Pizza Express....
and Belgo
Belgo
Belgo is a small chain of London restaurants specializing in simple Belgian cooking and Belgian beer. Belgo is noted for its uber-cool 1990's design and architecture, including kitchens viewable by customers entering the restaurant , and its waiting staff who dress as monks...
chains. In 2006 he bought Rivington, a two-restaurant group independently set up by Caprice Holding’s chef director Mark Hix
Mark Hix
-Career:In April 2008 Hix opened Hix Oyster and Chop House, in the Farringdon area of London. He also opened Hix Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis, Dorset and most recently Hix Soho in the West End...
. After rapidly expanding Strada in 18months, he sold it on for £145m, before buying the Bath & Racquets Club and George. In 2007 he purchased the Birley Group (Annabel's
Annabel's
Annabel's is a London nightclub, located at 44 Berkeley Square, London. It was founded by entrepreneur Mark Birley and named after Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, then his wife.-Background:...
, Harry's Bar, Mark's Club) for £95m including the vast art collection, concluded just a few months before Mark Birley
Mark Birley
Marcus Lecky Oswald Hornby Birley , known as Mark Birley, was a British entrepreneur known for his investments in the hospitality industry...
’s death. In 2008 he agreed a leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
of 28 small investors in private members club Soho House
Soho House (club)
Soho House is a well-known private members club patronized by those in the arts and media. The original location is at Greek Street, Soho, London, England . There are now nine 'houses' worldwide, found in Babington, Notting Hill, Chiswick, Shoreditch, Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, West...
, taking 80% for £105m, with the remainder held by Nick Jones who remains CEO, also his partner in Cecconi’s. Caring also owns stakes in Cote (formed by the former management team of Strada), and Alternative Investment Market
Alternative Investment Market
AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....
listed chain Carluccio's.
The speed with which Caring has built his restaurant chain has resulted in many questioning his reasoning, on both a strategic level
Strategy
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
as well as the high purchase prices paid. Dubbed by some as "the Lex Luther of Mayfair" for his apparent supermarket-sweep approach to buying companies; other critics say he is brandishing a credit card, playing a high-stakes game of Monopoly, buying every square he lands on. Further, a caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
appeared in Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
magazine of Caring as James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
villain Blofeld, stroking a white cat.
But Caring insists he has a masterplan:
Caring's strategy is built around three brands that he believes can travel, with an existing core membership across them of 60,000 people:
- Annabel's - including the Birley clubs (Mark's, Harry's Bar, George and Bath & Racquets), 12,000 members: "They're refined, discreet, elegant."
- Soho House - 17,000 members: "They're for an arts, journalistic, younger crowd."
- Caprice - 30,000 regular customers, the restaurant link between the two club chains
These core brands are now being rolled out across the globe, with openings including: Le Caprice New York; Cecconi's Miami; Soho House, via £130m credit line supplied by HBoS
HBOS
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
, in Berlin, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
Restaurant critic AA Gill has commented:
Politics
A friend of Lord Levy, he persuaded Caring to lend £2m to the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
to fund the United Kingdom general election, 2005
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
. Caring was not later implicated or named as part of the Cash for Honours investigation. The loan monies have since been repaid.
In February 2008, Caring attended the Conservative Parties
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Black and White Ball in Battersea Park
Battersea Park
Battersea Park is a 200 acre green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in England. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, and was opened in 1858....
, at which he donated an auction prize of an evening’s hire of Annabels. raising £70,000.
Due to his parentage and high amount of time spent overseas, Caring is non-domiciled for taxation
Taxation in the United Kingdom
Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government: The central government and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty...
purposes in the United Kingdom. Caring has commented on politics:
Philanthropy
Following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Caring immediately donated £1m to the relief effort.Caring supports the NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
, donating £3.5m a year to the charities Fresh Start centre in Camden
London Borough of Camden
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century...
, to combat child abuse and paedophilia. In 2005, he organised a charity costume “Napoleonic Ball” for the NSPCC in St Petersburg's Catherine Palace
Catherine Palace
The Catherine Palace was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo , 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.- History :...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, featuring a performance by Sir Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
. Caring spent £8m flying in 450 guests in by private jet, including Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
and former US president Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, raising £11m.
Personal life
Caring spotted his future wife, AldershotAldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
-born model Jacqueline Stead, the daughter of a retired British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
major, who was brought up in Shenfield, Essex and attended the Brentwood Ursuline Convent School, at a catwalk show. She gave up modelling three days after the couple met. The couple have two sons, who were raised in Hong Kong: Jamie, a vice-president of MTV Networks Europe
MTV Networks Europe
MTV Networks Europe is a division of Viacom International Media Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom.MTV Networks Europe includes the multimedia entertainment brands: MTV, VH1, TMF, VIVA, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Nick Jr...
; and Ben, who works for Soho House.
The family live in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, in a house known as the Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
of London. It has a 55 feet (16.8 m) ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
, a cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, a dining room
Dining room
A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level...
that seats 30; and a 2 acre (0.00809372 km²) garden with a lake. The couple also have homes in Hong Kong, and own the former stables of Pixton Park
Pixton Park
Pixton Park is a country house in the parish of Dulverton, Somerset, England. It is associated with at least three historically significant families or dynasties: the Acland Baronets, the politicians and diplomats the Herberts, and the Waughs, a series of writers...
in Dulverton
Dulverton
Dulverton is a town and civil parish in the heart of West Somerset, England, near the border with Devon. The town has a population of 1,630. The parish includes the hamlets of Battleton and Ashwick which is located approximately north west of Dulverton...
, on the Somerset/Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
borders. Bought in 2005, it has an interior designed by Tara Bernerd, daughter of Elliott Bernerd, and is presently subject to a planning application for a "Winter Palace". Extending to 500 acres (2 km²), the property was purchased to allow Caring to enjoy his hobby of shooting, and also holds a pet-holding of deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
.
Caring keeps himself fit, by running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
every day on Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...
with his German Shepherd dogs, and by skipping meals, never eating breakfast or lunch if he can avoid them.
His friends include Scottish philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter
Tom Hunter
Sir Thomas Blane Hunter is a Scottish businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.In April 2007, Hunter was reported in the Sunday Times Rich List as the first ever home-grown billionaire in Scotland, with an estimated wealth of £1.05 billion...
, and property developer Robert Tchenguiz
Robert Tchenguiz
Robert Tchenguiz, born 9 September 1960, and his older brother, Vincent Tchenguiz, are British businessmen.Vincent Tchenguiz, a British entrepreneur born in October 1956, is a native of Tehran. He hails from an Iraqi-Jewish background. His family left Iraq in 1948 and settled in Iran...
, with whom he plays poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
.
Timeline
- 1958: gains scholarship to be educated at Millfield College, Somerset
- 1964: Joins shopping-centre construction firm. Leaves to join and save family business
- 1971: Marries former model Jacqueline Stead, the AldershotAldershotAldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
-born daughter of a retired army major. who was brought up in Shenfield, Essex and attended the Brentwood Ursuline Convent School. - 1970s: First goes to Hong Kong, spending a year living out of a suitcase in a hotel developing supply relationships. Also said to have made money from property deals in Hong Kong
- 1979: Moved with family to Hong Kong, where he and wife raise their two boys
- 1980s: Launches Together, a clothing brand that was a 50-50 joint venture with the Freemans catalogue; later sold to rival Otto Versand
- 1990s: Returns to London and moves into £15m Hampstead home. He also owns the converted Georgian stables of Pixton ParkPixton ParkPixton Park is a country house in the parish of Dulverton, Somerset, England. It is associated with at least three historically significant families or dynasties: the Acland Baronets, the politicians and diplomats the Herberts, and the Waughs, a series of writers...
on ExmoorExmoorExmoor is an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England, named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and ... - 1998: Makes an investment in fashion chain Whistles, which he later sells to high street chain Karen Millen
- 2000: Buys the Amanda Wakeley evening wear label
- 2002: Sells NV, Next’s Near East sourcing operation, to the retail chain
- 2004: Buys stakes in Camden Stables Market and Wentworth Club
- 2005: Sells Amanda Wakeley and buys Caprice Holdings, owner of The Ivy and Le Caprice, and Signature Restaurants, the owner of Strada and Belgo
- 2006: Emerges as £2m donor to the Labour Party amid the cash-for-peerages inquiry, although no wrongdoing is found
- 2007: Sells Signature and buys Birley Group, owner of Annabel’s, George and Harry’s Bar
- 2008: Buys majority stake in Soho House