THE food range at the new Monks Cross development in York is growing.

Oakgate Group, the firm behind the £90 million Vangarde development, confirmed yesterday that it had secured “world food” restaurant chain Giraffe as its latest tenant.

It will be the first Giraffe to open in York – the nearest branches are in Leeds, and the chain predominantly operates in London and the south.

Giraffe joins Prezzo, Costa and Frankie & Bennys in the list of high street restaurants that have signed up to the development.

Richard France, managing director of Oakgate Group, said: “We have been working on attracting various good operators and creating a restaurant offering for some time.

“I’m confident we have got one of the best retail line-ups in the UK. Giraffe will add to that, and bring a new restaurant to the city. Then we have got two more to announce, hopefully before Christmas. After that we only have one, 1,000 sq ft unit left, which we have already got a lot of people looking at.

“I am delighted to be in the position of looking at filling the final unit on the site.”

Meanwhile, John Lewis has announced it will be teaming up with Hotel Chocolat – the first time it has opened a catering concession with a major high-street retailer.

The café will feature a cocoa-inspired menu and have a mixer, known as a conch, on site to process cocoa from bean to chocolate. Andrew Murphy, retail director at John Lewis, said: “We want to create more compelling reasons than ever for customers to visit our shops, and partnering with such an inspiring brand will be a real draw.”

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive at Hotel Chocolat, said: “We already have a strong relationship with John Lewis as our chocolate is one of the department store’s best-selling gift food lines. This new venture is exciting for both our brands.”

The Oakgate Group, part owned by Caddick Group, started work in May 2013 on the development where there are now about 400 shop fitters working on the John Lewis and Marks & Spencer stores, with more due next week to work on the Next shop.