Hot weather helps pubs and restaurants post modest monthly sales growth August 12, 2019 British pubs and restaurant groups enjoyed increased sales in July, as eateries showed signs of recovering from poor trading last summer. Restaurant groups posted a 3.8 per cent increase in like-for-like sales compared to last July, when hot weather and the football World Cup took their toll on business. Read more: Restaurants eat into retailers’ [...]
Feeling the heat: Carluccio’s waiters rise up in row over tips September 22, 2019 Waiters at Carluccio’s are hitting back at the restaurant chain after a change in tipping policy that has allegedly left them hundreds of pounds worse off per month. Employees at the Italian eatery have joined the Unite union in a bid to scrap a new policy that siphons off a great proportion of tips to [...]
Restaurants eat into retailers’ high street share August 8, 2019 Retailers are being edged out of the high street following a spike in change of use requests to convert shops into restaurants. More than a third of change of use applications made to councils last year were to swap retailers for restaurant or takeaways, despite the challenges currently facing the casual dining sector. Read more: [...]
Full list of towns and cities where Prezzo restaurants are for the chop March 3, 2018 Italian chain Prezzo confirmed this week that it is closing 94 restaurants. The company has launched a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which states that it will close branches which would not be profitable even with a rent reduction. Landlords for another portion of the estate will be asked to consider a reduced rent. Update: Prezzo [...]
Gourmet Burger Kitchen sales begin to recover after £4.6bn loss May 29, 2019 Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) has posted a partial recovery in sales since it suffered a record £4.6bn loss last year, when it got the green light for a string of restaurant closures. Read more: Creditors give green light to Gourmet Burger Kitchen closures The restaurant chain’s like-for-like sales fell 9.7 per cent in the first six [...]
Top UK restaurants fall to £82m loss as casual dining sector feels the heat May 27, 2019 The UK’s top restaurant chains fell to a loss of £82m in the last year as they struggle to stay afloat in the increasingly competitive casual dining sector. The top 100 restaurant groups fell to the hefty loss in the year to the end of March, compared to a pre-tax profit of £102m the previous [...]
‘Chicken king’ Boparan to close a third of Giraffe and Ed’s Diner restaurants March 4, 2019 Giraffe and Ed’s Diner have become the latest casualties in the struggling casual dining sector after the restaurant chains’ owner said it will close a third of their branches. The Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), which is owned by ‘chicken king’ Ranjit Singh Boparan, is widely reported to have entered a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) that will [...]
New Barclaycard “Dine & Dash” technology to be trialled at Prezzo allows eaters to walk out of a restaurant without waiting for the bill February 27, 2018 One of the most frustrating parts of eating out, according to a survey conducted by Barclaycard, is waiting for the bill. So the payment business has developed a new technology which allows diners to simply walk out after eating their meal. The “Dine & Dash” technology, which is being trialled at the St Martins Lane [...]
Richoux shares drop as restaurant group raises extra funds August 29, 2018 Restaurant group Richoux has announced a plan to raise £1.1m through a share subscription as it faces "continued pressure" from headwinds in the casual dining industry. Shares in the Aim-listed company dropped more than 14 per cent in early trading after the announcement. The group, which also includes the brands Villagio, Friendly Phil's, Zintino and [...]
Pub companies: Is now the time to invest in a cheap pint? September 23, 2019 Investors in Greene King are raising a glass in celebration after Hong Kong’s richest man, Victor Li, agreed to buy the UK’s largest publicly-listed pub and brewery company for £4.6 billion (including net debt). A unit of Li’s investment vehicle, CK Asset Holdings, has bid 850 pence per share – more than a 50 per [...]