All articles by James Halliwell – Page 14
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OpinionOpinion: TRG has a spicy star in Wagamama
There are 135 reasons why the new Restaurant Group CEO, Andy Hornby, can feel positive about the future. That’s how many Wagamama sites there are in the UK and each one is crucial to TRG (it also has five in the US and 57 franchises elsewhere around the world).
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NewsNew Mamago logo revealed
The logo for The Restaurant Group’s spin-off Mamago has been unveiled, along with teasers of the new menu. The Mamago logo will use the same font as the original Wagamama logo, as well as the familiar red and white colour scheme, plus its signature single red star. Meanwhile the menu, specifically designed for the spinoff, looks set to include wraps packed with Pan-Asian ingredients and fruit pots.
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NewsBermondsey Pubs teams up with student jobs app
Bermondsey Pubs is using the Stint app to make sure it has enough staff to handle busy periods. The Stint app pairs students looking for work with hospitality shifts on an on-demand basis, using its algorithm to ping shifts to the best suited student after taking into account factors like their location and their ‘Stint rating’, which is based on a number of skills and competencies.
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NewsCosta Coffee launches commuter-concept store
Costa Coffee has opened a ‘commuter-focused’ concept store in Lewisham. Located in what used to be the station managers office, the scaled down outlet is one eight mini-Costa’s that the coffee operator plans to open within the next six months.
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![Cahoots The Ticket Hall & Control Room hoarding [1]](https://d36hgjhwuw81py.cloudfront.net/Pictures/100x67/5/5/8/168558_cahootsthetickethallcontrolroomhoarding1_956912.jpg)
NewsInception Group launches new Cahoots bar
The Inception Group is opening a second Cahoots bar opposite its original Cahoots site, growing the size of the overall group to 11 venues. Themed along the lines of a 1940s train station and named Cahoots: The Ticket Hall & Control Room, the new venue will open on Kingly Street in Soho in November. It will add to Inception’s other venues which include five Mr Fogg’s venues, which all have a Phileas Fogg theme, two Bunga Bunga supper clubs, a Bart’s speakeasy and 80’s themed club Maggie’s.
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NewsEditor’s Opinion: Uncertain Times
The sorry state of UK politics makes for a fascinating spectacle, but Brexit continues to undermine business. Now, courtesy of the new PM, a no-deal scenario is back on the table, injecting a further dose of uncertainty when the opposite was needed. No-one knows exactly what will happen in the event of no-deal, but for a business sector long beleaguered by Brexit, certainty beats uncertainty.
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NewsRestaurants hit by ‘turbulent times’
Restaurant numbers have dropped for the sixth quarter in a row according to the latest Market Growth Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners, with Italian restaurants hit hardest. Overall there was a 3.4% drop in restaurant numbers in the 12 months to June 2019, meaning an average rate of 18 net closures a week.
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NewsRed Oak Taverns buys 18 pubs from Wadworth
Red Oak Taverns has acquired 18 leased and tenanted pubs from Wadworth for an undisclosed sum. The pubs are all based in the south and south west which Red Oak said would “strengthen the strong regional bias of Red Oak’s existing estate” which now totals 179 pubs.
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NewsDirty Martini cleans up with sales hike
Dirty Martini has reported a like for like sales uplift of 12% for the 13 weeks to 28 July. The performance of its regional sites was particularly strong, with sales up 19.4% compared to a jump of 6.6% in London.
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NewsTea sales shoot up in coffee shops
Coffee shop sales of tea were up 11.1% last year to hit £320m, according to Allegra. The total equates to 3.6m cups of tea, which makes up 4.4% of sales in the UK’s coffee shops. But 61% of industry leaders surveyed said the prospects for tea sales in coffee shops were positive, a drop of 6%. However, Allegra also said that 37% of tea drinkers consider drinking tea outside the home as “poor value for money” and warned operators that “more work is needed to boost consumer estimation of tea served in cafes”.
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NewsMonty’s Deli and Claw opening at Seven Dials Market in September
Monty’s Deli and Claw will open new outlets at Seven Dials Market this September. It will be the third permanent site for Monty’s Deli. Founder Mark Ogus said after the “heartbreak of closing our restaurant in Hoxton, it’s really great to be able to announce we are reuniting with Kerb at Seven Dials Market, right in the heart of the West End.
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NewsJuly sees eating out bounce back
July was a good month for eating out compared to the same period last year, with a rise in footfall, number of visits and the amount of money spent on food and drink. According to the latest MCA Eating Out Panel for July, participation, frequency and average spend in the Eating Out market were all higher in July 2019 than July 2018, when the World Cup was taking place and heatwave was in full effect.
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NewsMcDonald’s escapes slapdown over Big Mac ad
McDonald’s has escaped censure by the ASA after a radio ad for a Grand Big Mac Bacon was cleared by the advertising watchdog. The ad, broadcast on Virgin Radio on 8 March, featured two men talking about their lunch. One said he had a “packed lunch … with a cheeky little choccy bar”. The other said: “That looks tiny, have they made them smaller?” to which the first man replied: “Yeah, they used to be twice as big”. The other said: “You’ve been robbed, mate” before he said he had a “Grand Big Mac Bacon…
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NewsByron to open at 9am and target breakfast
Byron Burger will open at 9am and trial a variety of breakfast/brunch options when it opens its refurbished its High Street Kensington Store, CEO Simon Wilkinson has told MCA.
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InterviewsBig Interview: Byron boss on burgers, breakfast and Brexit
It’s fitting that Simon Wilkinson joined Byron Burger as CEO on the first of May, aka Mayday, aka the universal call of distress. Established in 2007, Byron was once a leader in the premium burger space, and it was sold for a very tasty £100m in 2013. But it was subsequently troubled by a combination of new competition and the general malaise affecting the sector and it came close to collapse. In January 2018 it underwent a CVA restructure that saw it close around a third of its 67-strong estate.