All news articles – Page 446
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NewsThai Restaurant Group closes Chaophraya Manchester
Thai Restaurant Group has closed its Chaophraya site in Manchester city centre after 12 years.
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NewsAnglian Country Inns profits down after restructure
Anglian Country Inns has increased sales by 5% to £11.6m, driven by a new site the Lytton Arms.
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NewsBrewDog opens alcohol-free beer bar
BrewDog is launching what it claims is the world’s first alcohol-free beer bar to coincide with Dry January.
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NewsVeganuary operator offering round-up
Once again, Veganuary is upon us, and with the number of vegans more than doubling to 600,000 between 2016 and 2019, this year’s operator offering is bigger than ever.
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NewsPastaio’s Stevie Parle: ‘People want in-your-face flavours’
The chef-owner of the pasta joint talks about expanding the Pastaio brand, his approach to menu development and why he’ll never compromise on quality.
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NewsBusiness rates must be cut to support higher wages - UKH
Minimum wage increases must be mitigated by business tax cuts, UKHospitality has said.
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NewsTasty sells Dim T More London site for £2m
Tasty has exchanged contracts for the sale of its Dim T More London site for £2m.
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NewsSales spice up at Giggling Squid
Giggling Squid has said sales for the year ending 31 March 2019 were up 39% to £33m. It opened seven new sites to take it to 30 during the financial year, and said the new sites have all performed “on or well above expectations”. It has subsequently opened four new sites in Oxford, Chislehurst, Leamington Spa and Weybridge, and will open its 35th site in Leicester in January.
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NewsReview of the Year Part Two
When England achieved the impossible, and destroyed the indestructible All Blacks in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup, it looked like it was going to be a bumper day for hospitality on the day of the final. The UK would wake up early and hit the pubs and bars first thing to watch England win the final, followed by trips to restaurants, followed by pubs, bars and clubs, before ending up slumped on the sofa trying to focus on the highlights and order a Deliveroo. All England had to do was win.
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NewsIs the premium pub market ripe for additional consolidation?
I must admit I enjoyed a very decent lunch last Sunday. It was at The Parrot pub at Forest Green, just south of Leith Hill (the highest point in the South East for those uninitiated) with four of us spending the best part of £40 per head. Nothing necessarily remarkable in that you might say, though this was my second visit in four weeks (and it is by no means a local pub), and I should add this is now a pub within the Brunning & Price stable, following its acquisition in late 2018. This got me interested in looking at the performance (and impressive growth) of Brunning & Price in a bit more detail, but also, to more closely scrutinise the premium pub segment.
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NewsNew World Trading Company sees revenue rise
The New World Trading Company has seen a 15% rise in revenue for the year to 31 March 2019. The bar and restaurant operator’s turnover increase by £6.1m, reaching £51.8m compared to £45.1 in 2018, with adjusted EBITDA at £5.2m, the same as the year before.
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NewsReview of the Year part One
Amid a backdrop of casual dining carnage and CVAs around every corner, the industry had plenty of news in 2019. But Pizza Express delivered drama. With 490 sites in the UK, Pizza Express is a national institution. So when it announced a net debt pile of £1.1bn earlier this year, and premature rumours of its demise hit the airwaves, the country rallied itself in the way it does best these days – by keyboard.
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NewsGotham’s Christmas-ish Quiz!
It’s the week before Christmas and I hope many thresholds are being crossed, multiple tipples downed and that tills are ringing out! For my part, I have been thinking about what sort of Christmas present to get lucky readers – I have been racking my mind and the best I can do is the joy of a quiz!
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NewsFlank - flexing chef muscle
Tom Griffiths has a complex relationship with burgers. The Flank founder says it’s a universal truth that his peers love eating them but hate cooking them, and this dilemma has been a constant in his career. Keen to avoid being typecast as a garden-variety patty slinger, when he first launched ...
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NewsArc Inspirations reveals jump in sales following year of investment
Arc Inspirations has reported a 16.7% jump in sales, from £23.3m to £27.2m, with like-for-like sales up 1.1%. Operating profit was down by 31% to £213k, and it returned pre-tax losses of £474k compared with a pre-tax profit of £183k last year. However, over the period the 17-site business invested £7.5m, including opening five sites and innovation.
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NewsOakman Inns & Restaurants reports like for like rise
Oakman Inns & Restaurants has said like for like sales were up 7.3% for the 15 month period ended June 2019. Sales for the period topped £46.7m with LfL sales up 7.3%. Site EBITDA was £8.6m with group EBITDA at £4.2m. “Overall we have maintained our corporate momentum despite an unhelpful environment with the uncertainty around Brexit impacting both consumer and investor confidence,” said Oakman CEO, Peter Borg-Neal.
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NewsDecember 2019
The build up to Christmas and New Year’s Eve is always a busy time for the industry and this year will be no exception. It’s also a good time to look back and reflect on the events of the last 12 months. In this issue, Alix Partners take a look back over the last 12 months in M&A and columnist Dom Walsh chooses his annual awards. It’s also been a year of challenges. Peter Martin dives into the challenge of hiring and retaining talent, while Georgia Cronin examines the dangerous world of allergens. But as ever, there is cause for optimism. Steve Gotham looks at the ever popular Nando’s, and our exclusive interviews with the new CEO at Paul, Mark Hilton, and Coco Di Mama MD Jim Attwood, reveal bright plans for the future.
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NewsVirtual brands hit 2,000 on Deliveroo
Some 2,000 virtual restaurant brands are now available on Deliveroo after the number rose by 150% in 2019, MCA can reveal. Orders from virtual brands have rocketed by 220% since January, with the 2,000 virtual brands operated by 1,200 restaurants. “We are committed to helping our partners grow their businesses and offer the widest, most exciting menus, and virtual brands do just that,” Deliveroo CEO Will Shu told MCA.
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NewsLabour’s new challenge to business
Labour is going to be a major headache in 2020. No, not the political party, but something potentially just as damaging to business if it doesn’t get it right. Staff shortages continue to blight the hospitality sector, and how to attract, retain, engage and motivate the best people is not going to get any easier. Even investors are now putting people at the top of board agendas ahead of property.
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NewsFast-moving grown-up Coco di Mama ‘can do’
Carbs and caffeine is a formula that has fuelled Coco di Mama’s expansion well. The fast-casual brand has been deftly serving long queues of office workers just that since 2011. This sweet spot customer, the 25-35-year-old affluent City worker, was the genesis of the brand in Fleet Street. While this core demographic served Coco well in its early years, a new management team last year realised it needed to broaden its appeal if it was to continue its expansion into adulthood.