M&C Report’s Trade Tracker, which is supported by Torex, supplier of customer and business insight, takes a look at sector trading over the previous seven days. From a list of 40 businesses in the eating and drinking out sector, 10 give a snapshot of trading each week.
Upbeat food sales were ensuring trade in the first week of August was good, in some cases fantastic, for many operators. City and town centres sites continued to avoid the affects of usual mass exodus of office workers, and the sunnier, drier weather provided a most welcome boost for all. Here’s what 10 different companies told M&C Report:
Abokado
Like-for-likes were up in excess of 10%, making the first week of August the highest ever trading week for Abokado, the London-based chain of food bars. The sunnier, drier weather had a heavy impact last week, said managing director Mark Lilley, adding that traditionally trade dropped off in August as office workers left the city for their holidays. Overall, trading was significantly ahead for the previous months too, although July’s colder weather had impacted business. “We did some product development two weeks ago. We are still small enough that when we make menu changes it can make differences to our volumes, but having said that we’ve never seen anything like this before. Long may it continue,” said Lilley, adding this week’s London riots were a concern, but fortunately none of his sites were in areas that had been affected so far.
Innventure
The past week has been a tale of two halves for Innventure, the operator of four pubs in Hertfordshire and Hampshire. Overall net sales were up 3%, according to boss Chris Gerard. “The country pubs did brilliantly with very strong growth,” he said. “Those offering carveries didn’t do so well. It’s pretty much the market we would expect at this time of year; those with pretty good gardens, or those doing innovative things with their gardens, do well.”
Benito’s Hat
The central London Mexican food chain’s third birthday promotions and celebrations on 28 July continued to have a positive impact on business last week, with business growing week-on-week. “We’re experiencing good general growth and on the sunnier days we’re experiencing an extra lift,” said founder Ben Fordham. The Covent Garden site, which has been open 55 weeks, was trading 30% up on its first month of trading last year. With sites in both Oxford Circus and Covent Garden, and living in Clapham, Fordham was concerned about this week’s London riots, and was hoping any further trouble was contained by police and didn’t move into the central shopping areas of the capital.
Anglian Country Inns
The ‘staycation’ is reaping rewards for this hotel and pub dining operator, with like-for-likes up 5% for the first week of August. This follows a strong finish to July, with trade for the month showing a 7% increase on last year. Food sales were driving the increase, said managing director James Nye, with the average customer spend up in each of the sites. The introduction of a tapas menu at the White Horse in Brancaster Straithe had proved very successful in increasing food sales. “Each tapas dish is £3.95 or customers can buy five dishes at £2.95 a dish. We finding that people are trading up to the five dishes and spending £15 with us rather than the usual £8-£9,” said Nye. Customers visiting the White Horse in the early evening for a drink were also “picking up some tapas” to have with their drinks, added Nye.
Ever So Sensible Group
A leaner, more focused business strategy has “recession-proofed” this gastro pub/restaurant and city-centre bar operator, with weaker sites disposed of, overheads cut, and a renewed concentration on its core outlets in the East Midlands. The food/restaurant side of the business showed like-for-likes up 3.5% for last week, which managing director Chris Bulatis attributed to stable management within the venues and some “powerful” lunchtime offerings “working well”. Further evening activity, including a meal for two with wine at £26 Monday to Thursday, were all helping to keep business stable. “One of the positives of the economic decline and industry closures has been that we’re getting a lot of good, former employees returning to us.” The city centre bar side of the business was more difficult, added Bulatis, with trading static, but the long-established Dogma bars in Nottingham and Lincoln were trading well. Bulatis said he had confidence in the market and was opening a new gastropub site in Lincoln in October.
Weston Castle
This northern-based sports pub operator is looking ahead to next Saturday and the start of the Premier League football season, when business across the estate is set to increased. Traditionally, Weston Castle’s 24-strong pub estate experiences a 10-15% drop in trade outside of the football season. This trend was bucked, however, last Friday when the company reopened the Railway in Accrington, Lancashire, and saw a massive 30% boost to business on the first night alone. The £100,000-plus refurbishment has seen the Railway transformed into the company’s flagship sports bar and lounge, with 50 TV screens. Weston Castle’s estate is 20% bigger this year, following the acquisition of six new outlets. “Our sites are gearing themselves up for next Saturday and the start of the new football season,” said managing director Chris Tulloch.
Me Love Sushi
The school holidays aren’t good for business at Me Love Sushi, with its restaurant, take-away and home-delivery services all experiencing a downturn. While like-for-likes were down 10-15% across all sites, founder Taj Ratt commented that despite this, the businesses were maintaining a “decent level” of sales, due to promotions. “Our sites are in suburban areas and when the kids are away for any length of time, trade dips. The same thing happens at Easter, and we feel it at these times,” said Ratt, adding that a fourth site was about to open in the Hampstead area.
Southern Counties Taverns
Last week saw trade up 5% on the previous week, but year-on-year, like-for-likes remained static. “It’s tough, but we’re stable,” said Bert Johnson, explaining that Southern Counties Tavern’s business changed from week-to-week: the first week’s trade after payday, was up (as it was for last week), then it would fall off over the following three weeks. “It shows that generally there is a shortage of money,” added Johnson, explaining that the company ran 14 wet-led, community pubs operated on long-term leases. Televised sport made a positive contribution to the estate in sites that “could afford it”, and basic food was available wherever possible, but some sites were without a trade kitchen. “Since the smoking ban, the trade’s experienced one hurdle after another,” said Johnson. “The VAT-cut was accompanied by a beer duty increase of 8p a pint and we’ve remained lumbered with the duty increase. Now they’re talking about banning cigarette machines in pubs. These are worth about £4,000 a year to our business, but more importantly having a machine on site keeps people in the pub.”
McMullen
The better weather last week paid dividends for McMullen, with like-for likes up 10% on the same week last year. “Overall things are pretty good for us. June and July were difficult, but we’re trading 2.8% ahead like-for-like for the year to date,” said McMullen’s managing director Peter Furness Smith, adding that covers were up 5% last week. “The biggest difference last week was the weather, we benefit enormously from our gardens when the weather is good,” he added. McMullen hasn’t been carrying out any “heavy weight” promotions, instead encouraging sites to use Facebook and e-marketing. “We like our pubs to give customers a reason to visit, for instance, a Mexican food night, something to interest them and get them into the pub. A fundamental thing for us is do things consistently and well, day-in and day-out. If we get the basics right and have the consistency of quality, it pays dividends,” said Furness-Smith.
Probably a Pub Company
This Midlands-operator reported a relatively good week for the first week of August, despite the varied and unpredictable weather. Like-for-likes were static, but overall it was a good week compared to the rest of this year. Food sales were increasing, but wet-sales were “slightly down”, which was probably weather-related, said the company’s owner Mike Staniforth. The business was benefiting from a £170,000 extension to the restaurant at the Carnarvon in Teversal, which boosted restaurant covers from 90 to 130. Staniforth is also currently investing in a new customer loyalty scheme for its 5,000 core customers, with six iPads to be purchased for all five pubs. The iPads will be used for customers to claim loyalty points and take part in company promotions that hope to drive sales and encourage customers to visit other pubs in the chain.
