All Opinion articles – Page 18
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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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OpinionSteve Moore: ‘The development never goes away. It starts on day one, it doesn’t finish on day one.’
Steve Moore is in jovial form when we speak a few weeks ahead of the launch of Electric Shuffle.
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OpinionRichard Caring: 'We’re fighters. We’ll make it work by investing in the business.'
A year ago, Richard Caring told MCA how Bill’s needed a “bit of love as it got left behind”. With a major refurbishment programme well underway, the investment seems to be paying off. Finn Scott-Delany catches up with Mr Caring and Bill’s executive chairman David Campbell.
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OpinionWhy Pizza Express is worth saving
There are many theories why Pizza Express, the largest casual dining chain in the UK with 490 sites, has slid into such a massive pile of debt.
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OpinionAlixPartners: Cause for cautious optimism
The M&A market for UK restaurant operators remains cautious, with distressed situations making up the majority of activity. However, several high-profile transactions completed in 2019, with investors still willing to pay a premium price in certain circumstances, says AlixPartners’ Graeme Smith
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OpinionThe Ivy Collection: ‘We have a formula that works’
With five new openings in November including a second Asian concept in St Paul’s, The Ivy Collection is confidently bringing its aspirational glamour across the UK. Ahead of a busy month, managing director Baton Berisha discusses his workaholic tendencies, executing Richard Caring’s vision, and the group’s unique formula for success.
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OpinionMosaic: A picture of health
Having reached close to 30 sites over the past four years, Georgi Gyton met with the joint chief executives of Mosaic Pub & Dining to find out more about the pub operator’s growth so far and what the future holds.
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OpinionGeneration Next: Berto Pasta
The team behind boundary-stretching pizza concept Zia Lucia have now set their sights on pasta with the launch of Berto. Founders Claudio Vescovo and Gianluca D’Angelo discuss how they are innovating with pasta just as they have with pizza.
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OpinionSlim Chickens: ‘We now want to do a whole lot more’
The UK is not short of US-imported fast casual restaurant concepts – Five Guys, Wahlburgers, Shake Shack and Wingstop to name just a few contemporary examples.
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OpinionWoods: ‘Proper innovation can be a game-changer for growth’
Innovation is not just about developing new things, it’s about developing things that customers actually want – and there is a big difference, according to Emma Woods, chief executive of Wagamama.
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OpinionBerenberg on JD Wetherspoon
The crux of investor debate on JD Wetherspoon (JDW) centres on whether it can convert its continued impressive like-for-like (lfl) sales momentum into meaningful profit growth in FY20 and beyond, says analyst Berenberg. And it thinks JDW can.
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OpinionCan burger sales stay strong in the face of increasing alternatives?
Despite growing food adventurism, the proliferation of diverse cuisines and the ongoing rise of plant-based offerings, beef burgers still account for one in nine of every dinner consumed outside the home. Sales are also in year on year growth. As such, it is difficult to argue with leading US restaurateur, Danny Meyer, who said: “At the base level, a burger is a piece of meat and a bun with something on it. It’s simple but it seems to make a lot of people happy.”
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OpinionMurdoch: ‘You have to take action – nobody likes a ditherer’
One of the most important attributes of a leader is the ability to take decisive action, according to Alasdair Murdoch, chief executive of Burger King UK.
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OpinionThinking outside the lunch box
Lunch visits are falling in frequency, but are there ways restaurants can work around, or with, this change in customer habits? Tony Naylor puts his thoughts on paper for MCA’s sister title Restaurant.
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OpinionBerenberg on City Pub Group
City Pub Group’s (CPG) H1 results showed “impressive top-line momentum”, said analysts at Berenberg, after the pub operator reported sales were up 36% year-on-year.
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OpinionWhat makes a Tuesday Purple?
Hospitality and retail are two of the sectors that offer the least positive and accessible experiences for disabled customers. Holly Addison, head of hospitality, travel and consumer digital at executive recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson, calls on the sector to make commit to change as part of Purple Tuesday.
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OpinionCosts: the great balancing act
Increasing costs are a fact of life for businesses and those that take a proactive approach often reap the rewards. Everyone is trying to control and, if possible, reduce business costs and protect margins, however, as Steve Braude and Julia Windsor at AlixPartners argue, more could be done to strike the right balance between making savings and damaging guest experience.
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OpinionJP Morgan on JD Wetherspoon
JD Wetherspoon’s (JDW) profit outlook does not justify its current multiple, according to the latest analysts note on the operator from JP Morgan.
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OpinionProperty, partnerships, people
The surprise £2.7bn bid for Greene King from Hong Kong-based property developer CK Asset Holdings certainly woke up August – not least because it immediately set off excited speculation about who might be next.
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OpinionYellowhammer documents confirm no-deal supply risks
On Monday, MPs backed a motion calling for the disclosure of all documents relating to Operation Yellowhammer, the government’s contingency plan for a no-deal Brexit. These documents had previously been leaked by the Sunday Times and are identical, except for a difference in headline from “base case” to “reasonable worst-case scenario”, suggesting perhaps the whole thing got a hasty rebrand prior to publication.