Lifestyle entrepreneur Gordon Richardson, founder of the Beanscene chain of coffee and music houses, has launched Widescreen, a specialist consultancy established to provide bespoke and turnkey services to the retail, licensed and leisure sectors.

The launch of Widescreen comes just two months after Richardson opened the first of six Pico New York City-style deli and coffee houses planned to open over the next 12 months under his newly established One Big Groove umbrella group.

Commenting on the launch of Widescreen, Richardson said: "We regularly get approached by people who are great at running businesses but get thrown a sidewinder when it comes to coming up with a unique concept, turning the vision into something that's real and then maintaining competitive edge in what is often a saturated marketplace - for me that's where the real thrill lies.

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"Consultations vary from a couple of hours to overview a plan, idea or initiative, to full turnkey packages that take the client from conceptualisation right through the planning, design, build, marketing, recruitment and training process to opening the doors to the public and beyond."

Amongst the services provided by Widescreen to retail and leisure sector clients are: conceptualisation; branding; positioning; marketing and product development. Other services will encompass: design and build; sound and vision; operational systems and processes; KPI monitoring systems and performance and productivity audit procedures.

Meanwhile, Richardson is in the midst of seeking to reacquire Beanscene, the chain he founded with a coffee cart in 1999 which went into administration four months after his departure following a difference of opinion at board level about its evolution.

(GK/JM)