All articles by James Halliwell – Page 12
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NewsSales soar at German Doner Kebab
German Doner Kebab has reported a 49.6% sales hike after it opened 36 outlets in the past two years. It also plans to open a further three stores in the UK this year, and has ambitious plans to expand into Saudi Arabia and open 100 stores over the next ten years. It is also targeting the US. The kebab house, owned by Hero Brands, said it appealed to the “next generation” of consumers.
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NewsYo! opens first ‘To Go’ format in Manchester
Yo! has opened its first ‘Yo! To Go’ concept at Piccadilly Station in Manchester. Like the recently opened Yo! Kitchen, the new fascia dispenses with the kaiten belt and introduces interactive touchscreens for customers to order food. The menu is designed for takeaway and will feature sushi, ...
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NewsCreams reveals jump in sales and profits
Creams has released its results for the year to 31st March 2019 as well as a trading update covering the first half of the Group’s FY20 financial year. It said sales were up 37% to £40.1m and pre-tax profits increased 76% to £1.6m. It also opened 21 cafes during the year and served 4.5m customers. It now has 89 cafes in total after three other openings to date this year. And delivery sales through Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats now represent 14% of sales.
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NewsSlim Chickens to open sixth site in Bristol
Boparan Restaurant Group will open its sixth Slim Chickens site at Bristol’s Cabot Circus later this month. It comes two years after the brand launched in London and more restaurants are planned in key cities in 2020. “We are really excited to be opening our new restaurant in Bristol, Cabot Circus,” said CFO Tom Crowley. “We have had a fantastic response to our brand and our chicken in the locations we have opened so far and we hope to create more “Slimthusiasts” with the amazing people of Bristol with our new restaurant.”
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NewsHow McDark represents the future and the past for McDonald’s
In the least surprising news since it emerged that too much fast food makes you fat, McDonald’s has opened its first dark kitchen. Expect KFC to do the same, soon.
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NewsWalker joins CDG as CFO
Casual Dining Group has appointed Adrian Walker as its new CFO, taking over from Giles David who will leave the business in December. Walker joins CDG after four years at Pizza Hut, where he worked as CFO and more recently as a non-executive director. “We look forward to welcoming Adrian ...
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NewsMcDonald’s opens first ‘dark kitchen’ in Hounslow
McDonald’s has opened its first dark kitchen dedicated solely to Uber Eats deliveries, according to a report by Property Week. A McDonald’s spokesman told the magazine the opening was “part of a wider trial to test different restaurant formats” and the dark kitchen would “ensure that restaurants in the surrounding area can provide the service and convenience that our customers expect, ensuring that McDelivery customers have a great experience.
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NewsRockfish reveal sales hike
Rockfish, the seven-strong seafood chain run by Mitch Tonks, has revealed a sales uplift of 15% to £7.95m for the year end 2019. Tonks said the last 12 months had represented a “real turning point for our business. We saw some tremendous like-for-like sales, opened one restaurant but also paused to consider what was going on in the wider industry and economy and focused on strengthening our senior team and building the pipeline for the future.
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NewsUK Hospitality and the BBPA urge action on business rates
Trade bodies UK Hospitality and the BBPA have slammed the current level of business rates as “unfair” and a ”burden” on the hospitality industry. Welcoming a House of Commons Treasury Committee’s report on the Impact of Business Rates on Business, UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls said: “We’re pleased to see the Committee recognising the burden of business rates has grown and the system no longer works. The current system is nowhere near flexible enough and it has directly contributed to the decline of high streets.
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NewsYo! teams up with Movember
Yo! has teamed up with Movember to raise awareness of mental health among men, following a startling report by Nestle Professional which claimed eight in ten chefs have experienced poor mental health during their careers. Yo! will host a panel discussion with Movember and Countertalk, an organisation which helps connect industry bodies, which will encourage people to be more open about mental health. The panel will include Yo! HR director Alyson Hancock, Sarah Coghlan, global health promotion director at Movember and Merly Kammerling, from Me, Myself and Mind.
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NewsHow is McDonald’s getting it right?
McDonald’s released its Q3 results on Tuesday, revealing a 5.9% increase in sales for the three months to 30 September 2019. Total sales for the period were up 1% to $5.43bn, making it the 17th consecutive quarter of growth for the chain. A 1% nudge isn’t going to generate huge headlines, but it’s another move in the right direction. In a call to investors, McDonald’s president and CEO Steve Easterbrook said across “every country function and level we’re seeing improving discipline and robust levels of execution that are guided by our velocity growth plan.
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NewsChick-fil-A to leave the UK
Chick-fil-A is to exit the UK once its six-month lease expires. The US chicken shop opened its doors last weekend but was dogged by negative publicity around suggestions it’s anti-LGBTQ. The long running controversy is the result of comments made by COO Dan Cathy in 2012 in favour ...
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Opinion
How to give hospitality the personal touch
Using machine learning and AI could deliver huge benefits to hospitality, but there are challenges. MCA and Punchh brought together marketing and IT directors to discuss how best to do it.
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NewsByron brews up partnership with Paddy & Scott’s
Byron has teamed up with Paddy and Scott’s to boost its coffee offer. The roll out will begin in their new look branded site High Street Kensington in November. The coffee will be on offer alongside Byron’s new brunch menu. It will then roll out across the Byron estate. “We are delighted to introduce Paddy and Scott’s into Byron,” said Byron CEO Simon Wilkinson.
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NewsDomino’s delivers ‘solid’ performance
Domino’s has hailed a “solid” performance as it released a Q3 trading update for the 13 weeks to 29 September 2019.
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NewsCMA will continue to investigate Deliveroo and Amazon deal
The CMA has launched an official Phase 1 investigation into Amazon’s deal with Deliveroo. The investigation will try to establish whether the deal would create a lessening of competition in the UK food delivery market. If the CMA does reach that conclusion, Amazon and Deliveroo could offer compromises in order to appease the CMA’s concerns. If it can’t, a Phase 2 investigation could start and potentially block the deal altogether.
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NewsGino D’Acampo to open My Restaurant in Birmingham
Gino D’Acampo will open a new 165 cover restaurant in Birmingham on 31 October. It will be situated on Temple Row next to The Ivy & San Carlo and will also feature a cocktail bar, deli bar and private dining. The opening is the first of a two-phased programme, with ...
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NewsBrilliant Women Boardroom initiative launches
A new initiative has been launched aimed at helping senior women in the hospitality sector reach director level. Launched by Jackie Moody-McNamara, who previously worked as operations director at Punch Taverns and more recently in a strategic role to develop NewRiver REIT’s pub portfolio, Brilliant Women Boardroom will be made up of quarterly forums, accountability sessions and professional guest speakers to combine coaching, peer mentoring and self-directed learning.
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NewsWhat next for Chick-fil-A in the UK?
After more pop-ups than a meercat disco, Chick-fil-A has finally established a home in the UK. The US giant, which has over 2,400 restaurants and just hit $10.5bn in sales, has chosen The Oracle shopping centre in Reading as its first permanent destination in Europe. If it wanted to clearly gauge the appetite for its offer it’s a better destination than London, where it would be swamped by competition. Chick-fil-A spokeswoman Jackie Jags says