I want to greet you with a pleasant and provocative ‘Helloooo’, because there is a bundle of cheeky benefits sweeping Iguanaland for you to make the most of. Trust me, when I say the month ahead is full of carnival antics, Latin love and exciting proposals to give you guys something to shout about.

Don’t forget sharing is caring and with the ’Big Restaurant Survey’ coming up we are arranging a little ménage à trois between us, the rest of CDG and Morar (the company providing and analysing the results). So we want you to tell us how you’re feeling, so we can learn how we can improve for the future.

As the back street boys would say ’Oh my god we’re back again’ and indeed we are, getting beach body ready and bringing back that fresh and funky vibe as we say hello to spring!

It’s been a manic few months to say the least, what with new systems, new menus, new site openings and a whole load of shizz in between, but you know what, you did it in style because YOU ARE AWESOME!

There were lots to celebrate last month from bar challenges, to Food Awards, Easter and more so pop inside El Republico - it’s never a bore!

Hi Team Iguanas

Firstly, a massive thankyou to everyone this month. I know It’s has been testing for many of you with the integration of so many new processes and procedures. Sadly not all have gone smoothly and I know many of you have put in many extra hours to get us over a few bumps in the road. Thank you to everyone who continues to stay committed to get this all smoothed out. I promise once we are all settled we will make sure we get back to focusing on what makes us great…. Wowing guests and having fun!

Talking of Fun, the awards are now only a month away. It looks like being the biggest and best we have ever done. Keep up the push to raise the £10,000 for charity if you actually want to see me perform a famous Britney Spears lip-sync in full costume!! Genuinely I don’t mind if you only raise £9,999!

Now, a few shout outs to some very cool people this month….

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Best Bartenders Competition. Joe from GWQ, and Kurt from MK were runners up, with Gediminas from BHS taking the crown of best bartender. Well done, you are on your way to Cuba with Havana Rum

Thank you to David Lopez in Brighton who moved quickly after noticing a guest struggling to breath and performed first aid to stop her choking. I believe the lady in question has contacted you directly for saving her life. Well done David, I tip my hat to a genuine hero!

And lastly to Glenn, who won the MIDAS award for the best South American menu in the industry. I’m sure you all agree that this menu is simply our best ever. Obviously it couldn’t have been achieved without Luke, Katie, Amy, Katie E, Vikas, Kasi and of course Kieron who are all part of making it amazing. Well done to all of you!

See you all at the awards!

Adios

Mos

Just a gentle reminder of the Benefits you’re all entitled to claim...

NEW Discount Scheme - Full details to follow by 20th April, however our current scheme ‘Iguana Lifestyle’ will continue until the new scheme is in place.

NEW Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - Call 0800 917 9330 for any confidential help and advice you may need on a variety of different subjects from medical, financial or personal.

Restaurant 50% Discount Cards - The date of expiry on your discount card has been extended, (Continue to use the current discount cards and please disregard the expiry date on them). They are now valid until 3rd May 2016.

Up to 50% off entry to Merlin attractions - Including Theme parks, Sea life centres, the dungeons, Madame Tussauds and more.

Pension - If you are currently eligible for the pension scheme, your pension will remain with the same provider (Peoples Pension). We will send more information about this when it is available to us.

You will have all received a document giving you the full details of each of the benefits you’re entitled to, but for any other questions everything is on Iguananet or ask your GM.

Yes indeed another Award for the Trophy cabinet, we won the South American Casual Dining category at the Menu Innovation & Development

Awards (MIDAS) for our spring/summer menu 2016.

As was recently featured in ‘Propel Magazine’ Head of food development Glenn Evans said: “A considerable amount of work has gone into en-hancing our food offering and making fresh and authentic Latin American dishes more accessible to the ever demanding and more adventurous consumer.”

Be proud Iguanas!

There‘s nothing like a sugar rush to help you get through the tough bank holiday weekend and to keep it on theme , Easter eggs packs were sent directly across the estate to keep you going.

Unfortunately a tech-nical glitch at Cadburys meant that many offices around certain restaurants enjoyed your treats instead of you, but thankfully after a painstaking investigation and some less than holy words, Cadburys rectified their mistake for those of you that didn’t have postman Pat knocking on your door by sending more.

It was a CRACKING day!

As the front cover pictures show it was kind of a big deal at Spitalfields last month, as representatives from every restaurant across the estate came together in this all day 4 stage knock out competition in full view of the general public.

A good day was had by all battling head to head for a chance to go to Cuba. Huge congratulations to…

1st - Gediminas Jakimavicius (Harbourside)

2nd - Joe Walsh (GWQ)

3rd- Kurt Mathinussen (MK)

It was a case of food glorious food as the NEW menu went live and included pork for the first time in Iguanas history.

Glenn, Luke and the training team took all management from across the business through the plethora of new delightful dishes now gracing the menu.

A big warm welcome to the latest crews in York, Harrogate and Brunswick hitting the floors running and getting set and ready to rock their way into the Latin Dream. Sophie General Manager at York even had time to make a cheeky appearance in the local newspaper, (find the link below)…

http://m.gazetteherald.co.uk/

news/14346383.Sophie_Phillips__gene

ral_manager__Las_Iguanas__York/

A huge shout out to the entire Milton Keynes crew who hit a staggering £11k NET sales on a Thursday night, proving they really are the MK Dons! Also big respect to David Lopez in Brighton who was doing a key holder shift when a lady started to choke on a chicken bone. he ran over and gave her the Heimlich manoeuvre to get the bone free. Well done David, excellent work!

Rob Allen (Torquay) and Blaise

Bachelier (Norwich) both won an all expense trip to visit the

Absolut distillery in Sweden.

It included a stay at a boutique hotel, fine dining and ice cold

vodka master classes.

WHEN - Upsell of Alhambra Beer from the 15th April - 15th May.

WHAT - Trip to Barcelona including flights, hotel and tours.

WHO - 1 manager, 1 bartender, 1 server, 1 chef and a member of Head Office.

HOW - The Restaurant with the biggest increase of Alhambra Beer compared to the previous months figures, as a percentage of total liquor sales, will win the above trip.

This year’s Challenge is slightly different because you have to create a fresh & exciting bar snack/small tapas dish that is on brand.

WHEN - Spec ideas back to danny@iguanas.co.uk by latest MONDAY 25th APRIL WHAT - 1st place - £1000 prize + dish on the menu, 2nd place - £500 prize, 3rd place - £250 prize WHO - A chance for your whole team to get involved and come up with something special together by potentially pairing food and drink. HOW - Any ingredients can be used and the snack must be easy to consume by the customer whilst standing and drinking. - There will be extra consideration for those that think about pairing their entry with a drink, (the drink of choice and reasoning behind this must be captured in the entry form).

CHECK OUT LAST YEARS CHALLENGE…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IWewKr3ok4

Last month we launched the las Iguanas 10k challenge; a challenge to collectively raise £10,000 in charity donations for the LATA Foundation - our main charity partner www.latafoundation.org.

Over Easter it was brilliant to see that some of you got involved within your restaurants by coming up fundraising ideas and donating towards this great cause, which funds lots of different projects helping people all over Latin America.

To up the ante Mos raffled himself and agreed to perform a LIVE lip-sync at the Awards dressed as Britney Spears if we hit our target. So far we are on

£2872 with 5 weeks to go.

HO started their 'Las Iguanas 10000 Challenge’ charity efforts by wearing their Easter bonnet creations to the Office for a small donation and Cheshire Oaks got involved too, so have a think how you can too.

You can donate by using the text code

'LASI91' to ‘70070’ stating your donation

amount in ‘£?’ visit our JustGiving page:

So after Charlotte Ellins’ hours of painstakingly hand writing tickets and envelopes, the Award Invites made their way out across the estate.

So, for the lucky Iguanas sampling this years ceremony forget what you know about the Awards because this year is a complete re-shuffle. Dress to impress, (smart wear & cocktail dress), think colourful vibrant & classy.

CHECK OUT LAST YEARS EVENT AT… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzq3pmDpD98

Right then guys, this month is a bit of a knockout because we have 2 periods of Mystery diner scores to separate the heavy weights from the bantam weights of hospitality.

Now compared to last month there has been a complete shift around at the top and as Wembley have been KO’d out of the top 10 and Trafford suffered a devastating left

hook, Blackpool are still sitting pretty in Round 3 pacing themselves for a points decision in the later rounds.

Meanwhile Deansgate, Swansea, Derby, Newcastle and Cheshire Oaks are all up for a shot at the LIRR title, (Las Iguanas Race to Rio Title).

P11 P12 P13 Average

Deansgate 95.30% 95.80% 99.70% 96.93%

Blackpool 95.80% 95.40% 96.30% 95.83%

Swansea 92.30% 98.50% 96.40% 95.73%

Derby 89.80% 97.10% 99.10% 95.33%

Newcastle 89.40% 93.80% 94.20% 92.47%

Cheshire Oaks 88.30% 92.50% 95.80% 92.20%

Trafford 98.40% 88.10% 89.90% 92.13%

Exeter 92.10% 83.40% 96.50% 90.67%

Cardiff ML 94.90% 81.60% 95.40% 90.63%

Norwich 87.20% 91.20% 91.70% 90.03%

Each month a ‘focus point’ will feature in this section highlighting a key area of our guest experience in the poster to the right.

This topic will be driven in PSBs, Floor targets and Team incentives.

Our guests are more vocal than ever and we as a team need to jump on this and show them Team Iguanas are the best at what we do!

Assistant Manager Gunwharf Assistant Manager Cardiff General Manager O2 General Manager Stratford Assistant Manager Liverpool Assistant Manager Norwich Assistant Manager Woking Deputy Manager Woking Assistant/Deputy Manager London General Manager Chelmsford Assistant Manager Chelmsford Deputy Manager/AM Basingstoke Assistant Manager Brighton Marina Head Chef Newport Head Chef Oxford Sous Chef Harbourside Head Chef Liverpool Head Chef Edinburgh Head Chef Blackpool Sous Chef/Junior Sous/ SSC Kingston Sous Chef Exeter Head Chef Brighton Junior Sous Chef/ Sous Chef Newport Sous Chef/Junior Sous/ SSC Edinburgh Junior Sous Chef Leamington Spa Junior Sous Chef/Sous Chef Brighton Sous Chef Reading Junior Sous Chef Reading Sous Chef/Junior Sous/ SSC Blackpool Junior Sous Chef Cribbs Causeway Junior Sous Chef/ Sous Chef Mermaid Quay Sous Chef/Junior Sous/ SSC Newcastle

Junior Sous Chef/Sous Chef London Sous Chef Woking Head Chef Brighton Marina Sous Chef Chelmsford Sous Chef Brighton Marina Sous Chef Braintree Junior Sous Chef Brighton Marina Sous Chef Leeds Junior Sous Chef Braintree Sous Chef/Junior Sous York Sous Chef Abredeen Sous Chef Harrogate Junior Sous Chef Harrogate Sous Chef/Junior Sous/ SSC Newcastle Quays Junior Sous Chef Basingstoke

Nick Sloane Newport Jibu Jacob Birmingham RW Pawan Kumar Coventry Jenny Barlow Glasgow Scott Moran Coventry Andrew Nixon Newcastle Quays Zoe Dallimore Basingstoke

Our experience was memorable and certainly didn't seem as though it was only their second evening service. It was our first experience of Las Iguanas and we will certainly visit if in York or our own local restaurant.

Served by Neil and overall experience was off the scale, lovely staff which made my first time at las iguanas even better than expected, food was amazing and the wait for food was not long at all, will definitely be going back and highly recommend to anyone thinking about visiting!! Big thank you to Neil for making the experience an 11/10!

Very friendly Staff and very good service, I could eat every dish at once if I could... sooooooo fantastic food. Well done to GM to make so exiting restaurant!!! Will come back soon!!!

We came for a group lunch today and would like to thank you for a wonderful experience. Everybody enjoyed the food and the team that were working today went out of their way to provide excellent service. It is the best service in the Brunswick Centre by far , I live locally and will let everybody know.

Your friendly happy team are a real gift and

you have created a great restaurant (10 times better than Strada)

Congratulations

Just wanted to pass on my thanks to your team in Blackpool, food was amazing and service was the best I have ever had in any restaurant from Cynthia.

Have been coming to las iguanas for over a year, each time just gets better and better.

Me and my wife were in Newcastle and had time to kill before we went to the pictures and decided to stop by. We were served by a young man named Jack, he was great all night. He ran us through the new dishes that had just been put on the menu that day and had recommended the Havana club ribs. They were amazing, fell straight from the bone and melted in the mouth. The new cocktails were great too, my wife loved the guava cava. Will definitely be back soon. Every iguanas lover need to try the new menu!

Thanks for a great meal.

We were lost and running late. I called to cancel as we didn't know where restaurant was and thought we wouldn't have time to dine pre Theatre and the Manager was BRILLIANT. He came and found us and walked us to the restaurant and fast tracked our dinner so we could make the theatre