193,000 Brits had their Christmas dinner in an M&B pub
Toby Carvery owner Mitchells & Butler sold an impressive 193,000 meals on Christmas Day, as more people opted to bypass the culinary pressure.
Milder weather meant more customers ventured out this year, M&B said.
The pub chain, which also owns All Bar One and Browns, sold 6.9m meals in the three weeks to 4 January and saw its biggest ever sales week, with sales on Christmas Day up 7.5 per cent on last year.
Like-for-like food volumes in the three week period rose 1.3 per cent and like-for-like sales were up 2.6 per cent.
Chief executive Alistair Darby commented:
We have delivered a strong trading performance over our busiest time of the year, with good sales growth. I was delighted that almost 200,000 people shared their Christmas Day with us.
We are reducing staff turnover, modernising our systems, increasing guest satisfaction and delivering against our transformation plan to create sustainable value for shareholders.
Over the financial year, M&B has opened 10 new sites, including four that it acquired from Convivial London Pubs.