Strong forward bookings at Dirty Martini have are lifting sales by 7.1% above 2019 levels, in the first six months of this year, Scott Matthews, CEO of CG Restaurants & Bars tells MCA.
The group, which operates 11 Dirty Martini sites, as well as Tuttons in Covent Garden, traded “really successfully” following the lifting of restrictions last summer, and has started the year really well.
“Pre-booking levels for the first half of the year were up 12% on 2019, which is fantastic,” Matthews says.
The business is also seeing full-venue hires for Christmas events return, with bookings and enquiries for Christmas having returned “with a big bang”. Its latest sales report showed festive booking levels were 41% ahead of the same time in 2019.
“The weather over the past six weeks and the train strikes haven’t been great, but we have ridden it out. It hasn’t impacted bookings versus 2019, but it has impacted walk-ins.”
The move to hybrid working has had some impact – more so in London than the regions (where it has five sites), he says, but while there has been a slight decline on Fridays, trade up Tuesday to Thursday is up by around 15%.
“Thursdays in central London, in the City, are as strong as Fridays used to be, in a few of our locations,” he adds.
Matthews says the business is actively looking to acquire new sites and was keeping a close eye on locations in Newcastle and Liverpool, as well as the West End. Its most recent opening was in Bristol, in early December 2021, with the site trading ahead of expectations.
While the group has agents looking for suitable sites, Matthews reports there is currently not a lot of stock out there of properties which suit its requirements.
“I think it’s really important that we are conscious at the moment of the constant daily and weekly challenges, and changes to the cost of living, that we are facing when we’re taking on new sites. We have got to make sure whatever we take on is perfect.”
The cost of doing business
CG Restaurants & Bars’ controllable costs amount to around 11-12% of overall costs, but the cost of the uncontrollable has increased significantly.
“Energy is up for us by 25% in the first half of the year, our security costs are 20% up, and labour is 18% up,” he says.
In an effect to mitigate price rises on its food and drink menus it has carried out a big project on menu engineering and has dug into every single item to see whether alternative ingredients could be used and to check the portion size is correct, so extra costs aren’t passed on to the consumer.
“But there are some occasions where we’ve had suppliers force through multiple price increases in the same year, when we’d normally only get one,” Matthews explains.
“This week, for example, we saw mince beef – which is a high-volume ingredient, used across the business – go up in price by 59%, with no notice.”
Quality over quantity
Despite the squeeze on consumers’ disposable incomes, Matthews remains confident the trend for premiumisation and good quality cocktails will continue.
Citing research from a major drinks supplier, he said that, overall, consumers believed it was more important to have a good product and go out once a week instead of two, than have a cheap product. “They want the quality experience they have always had, but maybe not as often.”
The business is still running its online drinks masterclasses – which took off during the pandemic, with corporate booking levels still strong, and its online shop called DM Delivered.
He said that while sales from its delivered cocktails were understandably lower than during the pandemic, it was selling a good amount of kits. “It’s still a strong part of the business.”
The importance of people
Alongside the challenges around costs, CG Restaurants & Bars has also been working to improve recruitment and retention rates of staff.
It undertook a big project earlier this year, whereby it spoke to the teams within all its sites to find out what really mattered to them in terms of benefits, and then relaunched its package in the spring, which includes staff discounts, birthday vouchers, friends and family discounts, access to a discount marketplace, and free staff food on shift.
It has also started working with Wagestream, which enables staff to take up to 50% of their wages before pay day, “which again has really helped”. “In the first week of that being launched, 52% of our staff used it.”
Matthews said the feedback from employees had been really positive and that its HR/recruitment team have said that applicants are viewing the ability to use a flexible pay scheme as attractive when applying for jobs.
The group also launched an Employee Assistance Programme at the beginning of the year, alongside Hospitality Action, which offers support to staff on a range of areas including mental health, relationships, financial and legal issues, with staff able to have six sessions with a therapist, with further support to be covered by the group if needed. “It has been utilised really well for various different reasons,” he said.
