Bristol-headquartered all-day café/bar chain Loungers has made three key appointments, including promoting the managing director of its Lounge brand to the newly created position of group MD.
Loungers said introducing this new role was aimed at ensuring it the optimal senior management structure to deliver continued consistent financial out-performance as it continues to grow rapidly. 
Justin Carter, pictured, who has worked for the group for nine years, has now taken overall responsibility for all three of its brands – Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside.
Loungers expects to open a record 34 new venues in its current financial year as it heads towards its target of 600-plus.
It currently has 218 Lounges nationwide, based roughly on the same concept as its first venue on North Street in Bedminster, which opened nearly 22 years ago offering a relaxed atmosphere with a strong food offering and quirky décor.
This template has worked particularly well on suburban high streets and smaller town centres where rents tend to be lower and competition is mainly from coffee shops or traditional pubs. 
The group also has 35 Cosy Clubs, which tend to be based in larger, city and town-centre buildings, and three Brightside roadside restaurants, all in the South West.
Loungers said having Justin responsible for all three brands would allow each of them to benefit from his invaluable industry experience and operational expertise.
Justin joined the group in 2015 as COO before becoming Lounge MD in 2017. He was previously operations director at London brewer and pub chain Fuller Smith & Turner, prior to which he founded and then subsequently sold The Elbow Room, a chain of pool bars.
He is succeeded as Lounge managing director by Kate Eastwood, pictured, who has joined from Fullers where, as operations director, she was responsible for more than 100 sites in London and the South. 
Prior to that she worked in a variety of roles for Revolution Bars Group, including sales & marketing director, and director of business development.
Meanwhile, David Matthews, pictured, has been appointed as Lounge operations director (North), following two successful years as a regional operations manager driving the expansion of the company’s ‘northern frontier’.
Loungers CEO Nick Collins said: “I am delighted for both Justin and David and would like to wish a very warm welcome to Kate.
“We have got to know Kate well over the last few months are excited about the impact she will have leading the Lounge business.
“She has a fantastic track record from her time at Fullers and Revolution, and I am confident that she will be more than capable of building on the strong foundations that Justin has helped to create.”
He said as the business continued to grow, it was critical it had the best organisational structure in place to protect and enhance both its culture and the hospitality it provided.
“The creation of the group MD role provides a great platform for Justin to influence our current three brands in their different stages of evolution,” he added.
“It is also really pleasing that in David’s promotion to ops director, we have another great internal progression story.
“David joined the business in 2019 as an ops manager, and over the past five years has had a major influence on our performance and growth.
“We are fortunate that our rapid growth creates fantastic career development opportunities; our goal is to be the number one choice for anyone looking at a career in the UK hospitality industry.”
