Browns Brasserie & Bar is a British chain of restaurants owned by Mitchells & Butlers, with sites mostly located in the south of England.
Browns was the first hospitality venture established by Jeremy Mogford, who in 1973 invested ã10,000 (of which ã2,500 was borrowed from his father) in the first Browns Restaurant and Bar in Brighton, East Sussex. He established a chain of seven restaurants, mostly in university towns such as Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford, with an annual turnover of ã15 million. In 1996, Mogford sold the Browns chain to Bass Brewery for ã35 million.
Mogford was regarded as one of the industry's best and most enlightened employers, which was reflected in a low staff turnover rate. He and his restaurants were used as a case study in a hospitality and entrepreneurship textbook illustrating commitment to employees. In addition, Browns was profiled in a widely used capacity management study by Deterministics Inc. for Cornell University's Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly journal.