Be At One, the Piper-backed cocktail bar chain, is on target to achieve full-year like-for-like sales growth of over 9% for the fourth consecutive year, after reporting a 37% increase in group net sales to £3.6m in December.
The company reported its best December to date with like-for-like sales up 16% for the five weeks to 27 December, which included its first £1m net sales week.
The group, which added five new sites in the last calendar year, said that the week of New Year’s Eve was equally strong.
At the same time, the 28-strong company has appointed Helen Cahill, formerly of Colliers, as its new acquisition manager as it looks to expand to 70 sites over the next five years.
Co-founder Steve Locke told M&C: “A big driver of increased revenue has been our new cocktail menu that launched in November. We introduced 20 new cocktails, 10 of which are our new virtuous cocktails which feature in our Try January promotion. These virtuous drinks are lower in alcohol and contain healthier ingredients such as the Beetroot Retox which is made from Kamm & Sons, pomegranate juice, beetroot juice, raspberry puree and agave syrup.”
Openings already lined up for this year are Sheffield (in February), Manchester (March), Birmingham (April) and Liverpool (May), which will take the group to 32 sites.
The company believes it can eventually grow to 120 sites in the UK.
