Hoi Polloi Head Chef Takes Flight to Lead Bluebird’s Expansion

The restaurant group D&D London has named Simon Gregory executive chef of the Bluebird restaurant in Chelsea ahead of the brand’s expansion in London and New York.

The Caterer report that Gregory will oversee the original Chelsea restaurant as well as the development of the Bluebird Café, which is scheduled to open in the new White City development, on the former BBC Television Centre site, early next year. It is understood that he will steer the brand ahead of its going global.

Gregory moved to London from Australia in 2003 and has pedigree: he worked for Gordon Ramsay Group for 11 years, initially at Ramsay’s three-Michelin-starred eponymous site on Royal Hospital Road and subsequently in the position as a group executive chef, overseeing Petrus, Bread Street Kitchen and the Savoy Grill.

More recently, the chef has been the friendly face in charge of the food and beverage offering at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, principally as executive head chef of the restaurant Hoi Polloi. He will leave after three years in the post.

“I am really excited to be working with D&D and at Bluebird Chelsea. We are looking to take things to the next level with the offering and there are a lot of brilliant plans for the future; so to be a part of the process is fantastic,” Gregory said in a statement.

The spring 2018 launch of Bluebird Time Warner in New York will be followed by a second D&D London restaurant in the city's Hudson Yards development, which is scheduled to open in March 2019. Both Hudson Yards and The Time Warner Centre have been developed by Related Companies.

The King’s Road site in Chelsea — a grade II-listed Art Deco former garage — was first opened as a restaurant called Bluebird Gastrodrome by Sir Terrence Conran in 1997; the space underwent a full refurbishment last year.

D&D London owns and operates 34 restaurants, principally in London but have venues in Leeds, Paris, New York and Tokyo, as well as the South Place Hotel in London.

• Chelsea Restaurant Bluebird Will Fly Into New York City Next Year [ELDN]
• Simon Gregory appointed exec chef of Bluebird ahead of expansion [The Caterer]