All MCA Insight articles in October 2020 – Page 3
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NewsOCTOBER 2020
As lockdown returns, MCA’s latest issue is out now. Featuring opinion from regular columnists Peter Martin and Dominic Walsh, it also has interview with Restaurant Group CEO Andy Hornby, D&D CEO Des Gunewardena and Giggling Squid MD Andy Laurillard…
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NewsMarston’s seeks waivers from noteholders
Marston’s has released a formal request to the holders of its secured class A notes for a limited number of further technical waivers during the first half of 2021. In an announcement on the London Stock Exchange today (11 November), the pubco said it was requesting the waivers as a precautionary measure following the renewed lockdown restrictions introduced in Wales on 23 October and England last week.
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NewsWetherspoons sales hit by 'baffling' and 'questionable' restrictions
Wetherspoons sales were significantly lower in October than previous months as the imposition of new restrictions took its toll, the business has revealed in a trading update today.
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NewsSalt Dog Slims set for Manchester
Restaurant and bar group GSG Hospitality, previously Graffiti Spirits Group, has secured a site for its second Salt Dogs Slims concept. The new restaurant, located near Manchester’s Northern Quarter and Spinningfields, will be the brand’s first move into the city following its debut site in Liverpool in 2012. Set to open in early 2021, the restaurant will have an ‘appointment only’ underground bar that will require a secret code, as in its Liverpool site, and will serve American style chilli dogs alongside an extensive beer and cocktail selection.
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NewsSacha Lord: ‘This is government’s last chance to take the sector seriously’
Sacha Lord has called on government to work collaboratively with the sector and rethink its post-lockdown hospitality restrictions.
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InterviewsHugh Osmond: ‘If you want to prevent deaths, you start with the places people are likely to die’
Various Eateries director Hugh Osmond has criticised the government’s mass testing strategy as a “giant propaganda exercise,” arguing that ministers initially failed to utilise the approach where it could have had the biggest impact.
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Analysis & InsightRedundancies at record high before second lockdown
Redundancies reached a record high last month and the number of job vacancies plummeted as companies across the country prepared for the end of the furlough scheme.
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NewsWadworth sells 21 pubs to Liberation Group
Wiltshire-based pubco and brewer Wadworth has announced the sale of 21 pubs to Liberation Group.The sites, sold for an undisclosed sum, are primarily in Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Wiltshire, and comprise more than a tenth of Wadworth’s estate across the south west and London.
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NewsNew Liverpool concept for Manchester Hall owner
Vanitas Bar operator Stephen Cliff is launching a new venue, Boujee Restaurant & Bar, at Liverpool One shopping and leisure complex.
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OpinionAlixPartners: The brave new world of delivery
Food delivery sales have unsurprisingly reached new heights this year with people across the world locked down and brands keen to generate revenue. With its importance amplifying once again given the second national lockdown in England, AlixPartners director Steve Braude looks State-side at the key trends driving the US delivery market and how developments might influence the UK
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Analysis & InsightUKH: No sign of wavering on lockdown
There are no signs the government regrets its decision to order lockdown amid speculation Boris Johnson feels he was misdirected by the date, MCA’s The Conversation has heard.
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NewsMeatliquor to open in Bloomsbury
Burger concept Meatliquor is set to open a restaurant in the former Las Iguanas site in London’s Bloomsbury later this month. Just weeks after the now 10-strong restaurant group permanently closed its Kings Cross site, it has announced the new restaurant will open in the district’s Brunswick Centre in two weeks’ time. Initially opening for takeaway-only, when restrictions are lifted the site will have 110 ‘covid-safe’ covers inside, as well as additional outdoor seating on a heated terrace.
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NewsStarmer calls for staggered closing times
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a rethink of the 10pm hospitality curfew when lockdown ends in England.
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NewsPiper sells Mindful Chef to Nestle
Piper, the backer of Flat Iron, Turtle Bay and Hickory’s, has exited its investment in recipe box and ready meal company Mindful Chef to Nestlé.
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NewsSbarro launches first UK site
US pizza chain Sbarro has opened its first UK site in Birmingham.
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Analysis & InsightBrandwatch: Nando’s
Does anyone remember a time before Nando’s? Arriving on the UK fast-casual scene in 1992, the chicken chain has expanded from a single site in Ealing to nothing short of a national institution. Today, with well over 400 restaurants across the country, you can’t walk five miles without spotting Barcelos cockerel, and the brand is so rooted in youth culture that a British celebrity without a Nando’s black card is barely a celebrity at all. Just over 30 years since the business was founded in Johannesburg in 1987, consumers can now source their peri-peri fix in 35 countries across five different continents. Home to a large proportion of its over 1,200 outlets, the UK branch comprises one of the brand’s largest markets, and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change anytime soon.
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NewsVegan pizza chain Purezza set to go global
Brighton-based vegan pizza concept Purezza has announced global expansion plans after securing £2.4m in funding.
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NewsDeltic sale piques private equity interest
Private equity firms Greybull Capital and Aurelius are among interested parties in the Deltic Group, following its emergency sale announcement last month.
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NewsRelaxed takeaway regulations could become permanent
Relaxed regulations that allow pubs and restaurants to sell takeaway food and alcohol could become permanent, communities secretary Robert Jenrick has said.
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NewsUber Eats extends support for restaurant partners
Uber Eats will be waiving all activation fees, commission fees and some delivery charges for restaurants on its platform for the duration of lockdown. The delivery aggregator has announced today that activation fees for new restaurants joining the app as well as commission fees on pick up orders for current restaurant partners will be waived until the end of November, and the current opt-in programme for restaurants to receive daily payments to ease cashflow pressures will be extended. It has also committed to covering free delivery on up to 500,000 orders over the four weeks of lockdown, applying on orders of £15 or more from Monday to Friday.