All News articles – Page 10
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NewsChick-fil-A makes UK debut in Reading
Chick-fil-A has made its UK debut in Reading’s The Oracle, taking on the former Miami Burger unit.
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Senor Cerviche sells Fitzrovia site
Senor Cerviche has sold its Fitzrovia site to Mediterranean concept Ampἑli.
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Wasabi appoints Birts CEO
Wasabi, the sushi and bento chain, has appointed Henry Birts, formerly of Pizza Hut, as its new CEO.
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Black Sheep Coffee posts losses of £5.3m
Black Sheep coffee made losses of £5.3m in 2018, an increase from £2.8m in 2017, as the group invests in scaling up and adding new sites.
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Bile-ridden, rude and downright nasty
I have previously used this column to express my astonishment at the extraordinary level of abuse aimed at Jamie Oliver over the failure of his UK restaurant business.
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Why is alcohol down and soft drink up?
There are plenty of caustic comments in existence about the merits of statistics. One of my personal favourites is: “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts, for support rather than for illumination”. For this reason, I am wary of noting that consumer research findings for the first ...
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Pizza Express: someone has got to take a hit somewhere
The appointment of financial advisors this week shone a fresh spotlight on the precarious situation at Pizza Express. The celebrity figureheads at Jamie’s Italian and Carluccio’s had already put their crises into the public consciousness, yet the prospect of Pizza Express facing the same woes is an even bigger moment. The brand is credited with creating the concept of casual dining and is the UK’s biggest and most enduringly popular restaurant brand with 490 sites.
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Simply Fresh to open two more food halls
Simply Fresh, the upmarket grocery retailer, is launching two new food halls, following a debut of the concept in Stretford, Greater Manchester.
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Manchester: a star to emulate
So Manchester has it’s first Michelin star, after a wait of over 40 years. Does it matter? Well, it sort of does. For many in the city, it’s the final piece of the jigsaw. Manchester has over the years cemented its reputation for vibrant night-life, music, sport and even tourism. Only a few weeks ago it overtook Edinburgh as the most visited tourist spot outside of London, according to figures from Expedia Group. It already has a thriving eating and drinking-out culture. Going-out is in the North West’s DNA.
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Profits down at Pret A Manger but sales up
Pre-tax profits at Pret fell from £64.9m to £48.8m for the year ending 3 January 2019, a drop of 25%. However, sales were up 12% to £710m compared to £636.7m the year before. The business said Pret planned to continue delivering consistent like for like growth by focusing on innovating its menu, growth of day-parts, increased brand awareness, operations and expansion.
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Walter departs Various Eateries
Various Eateries CEO Sue Walter has left the Coppa Club and Strada operator, MCA understands.
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Calorie cap is impractical and unfair says UK Hospitality
UK Hospitality has said any proposed calorie cap for out-of-home eating and drinking is a “knee-jerk, impractical and unfair measure”. It follows a report by the chief medical officer which contains proposals aimed at tackling childhood obesity, including a calorie cap per serving of food and drink and a review of VAT rates on food and drink. “A blanket cap on calories for all portions of food and drink consumed out-of-home sounds like a knee-jerk, impractical and unfair measure,” said UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls.
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Branded restaurant market – green shoots of recovery?
Turning tables is a long-established practice in the restaurant market, albeit perhaps one more commonly associated with times of more buoyant trading than those currently prevailing. Highlighting just how fast the fortune tables can turn in this market, I was fascinated by some recent MCA analysis looking at physical growth by branded restaurant chains across different portfolio sizes. This year, the estate bracket sub-category that is anticipated to add the most net new sites will be ‘small’ operators.
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Black Sheep investors join the board
Black Sheep Coffee investors Jacob Schram and Bill Schultz have joined the board of the group’s parent company Conilon, MCA understands.
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Albert Bartlett to save Spudulike
Albert Bartlett has reopened eight Spudulike outlets and slashed prices. The potato giant moved in to revive the Spudulike brand in Livingston, Manchester, York, Glasgow, Greenhithe, Norwich, Bridgend and Leeds. A total of 37 stores originally closed down in August. A statement on its website read: “We’re excited to announce that Spudulike is back. If you’d been missing your favourite baked potato fix, you can now find us again at selected shopping centres across the UK.
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Meat Liquor and Franco Manca set to take over the former Jamie Oliver site in Piccadilly
Meat Liquor and Franco Manca are in advanced talks to take over the former Jamie Oliver site in London’s Piccadilly, according to Big Hospitality. Franco Manca is set to take the ground floor while Meat Liquor will open on the two floors above, with 90 covers in total, plus a 60-cover cocktail bar. It will also operate a covered rooftop bar.
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Say hello to the newest version of Yo!
When Yo! Sushi arrived in the UK in 1997 it was everything casual dining wants to be in 2019. Colourful, fun, innovative and fresh, it also had entertainment on the side thanks to the novel kaiten conveyor belt that served up plates of food. Remarkably, the novelty hasn’t worn off, even after 22 years. Yo!, which dropped the ‘Sushi’ from its name in September to send a message to the squeamish that it offered more than just raw fish, reported a UK sales hike of 5% to £88.9m in July.
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Cost pressures continue to mount for operators
It’s been close on three years now since I started to hear the words “perfect storm of cost pressures” being uttered by operators and industry commentators. In the period since early 2017 revenues have been fairly flat whilst costs have continued to rise, and there seems little likelihood of respite in the year ahead. At the recent Conservative Party Conference, the Chancellor Sajid Javid set out the government’s intention to tempt low-paid workers to vote Tory in the forthcoming general election by announcing plans to increase the National Living Wage (NLW) to £10.50 an hour, an alarming increase of 28% over five years.
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Arc Inspirations EBITDA up 15%
Arc Inspirations, the operator behind Banyan, BOX and Manahatta, has announced turnover increased 16.7% to £27.2m, up from £23.3m on the previous year.
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Papa John’s profits fall
Papa John’s has revealed a slump in profits for the year ending 30 December 2018. Pre-tax profits were down 53%, from £6.4m to £2.9m. Sales rose 1.7% to £68.4m but like-for like sales fell 4.5%. The business said this was its first decline in 12 years, which it blamed on “heightened competition and a long hot summer”.
