Mexican fast food chain Tortilla poaches rival Chilango May 23, 2022 London listed restaurant group Tortilla has snapped up rival Chilango, as it seeks to reap the rewards of office workers returning to London. The Mexican fast food chain dished out £2.75m to buy Chilango from the investment firm RD Capital Partners , it announced on Monday. Chilango’s estate of eight UK sites – six of [...]
McDonald’s agrees to sell its stores in Russia and warns of $1bn exit loss May 19, 2022 Fast food giant McDonald’s has agreed to sell its Russian stores across 45 regions – but warned it is likely to make a $1bn loss. The chain announced it entered into an agreement with an existing licensee Alexander Govor, who has operated 25 restaurants in the eastern region of Siberia since 2015. This comes after [...]
Social animals: Marston’s boss insists Brits’ thirst for the pub will not dry up despite historic inflation May 18, 2022 Brits will continue to be “social animals” at the pub, despite inflation hitting a 40-year high, the boss of Marston’s has said. “Having been locked up for two-three years, we are even more social animals,” Andrew Andrea insisted. The pub boss was optimistic that, despite increasing cost of living concerns, punters would continue to knock [...]
Pubs and restaurants battle to keep prices competitive amid ‘intense pressure’ on margins May 17, 2022 The hospitality sector has warned of “intense pressure” on margins while shoppers have been told food prices could surge as much as 10 per cent. Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman cautioned that shoppers could see an even pricey weekly shop amid historic levels of inflation. Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on [...]
Tennent’s Lager maker sells minority stake in Admiral Taverns pubco May 17, 2022 Bulmers maker C&C group intends to sell its entire minority interest in pub operator Admiral Taverns to Proprium Capital Partners for £55m. The drinks firm invested in the community pub chain in a joint venture with Proporium in September 2017. In C&C’s full year results published on Tuesday, it revealed the sale of the shares [...]
McDonald’s to launch on Deliveroo as app seeks to be ‘definitive’ online food firm May 17, 2022 Hungry Londoners will be able to order McDonald’s through the Deliveroo app in the coming weeks as the firms forge a UK partnership. The fast food titan will join the restaurants listed on Deliveroo in the UK during the second quarter of 2022. It comes after McDonald’s yesterday revealed it was injecting £250m into redesigning [...]
Here’s a tip: Hospitality bosses call for movement on service charge protections amid labour crunch May 16, 2022 As the hospitality industry faces a labour crunch threatening to bring it to its knees, bosses have said legislation to protect workers’ tips could help freshen its image. Ministers have promised legal protections for employees’ tips since 2016. In a further blow, the Employment Bill, set to contain this framework, was scrapped from the Queen’s [...]
Delivery design: McDonald’s to inject £250m into upgrading venues to cater for online orders May 16, 2022 McDonald’s has announced it is pumping more than £250m into redesigning its restaurants in the UK and Ireland, to dedicate more space to online orders. In a four-year upgrade scheme titled ‘Convenience of the Future’, the fast food titan said it will seek to provide diners with an even speedier experience. Some 200 restaurants across [...]
Next and Frankie & Benny’s bosses under fire for hefty pay packets May 16, 2022 Frankie & Benny’s and Next bosses are under fire for hefty bonuses after both companies received government support during coronavirus measures. Next chief Simon Wolfson took home almost £4.4m last year, up 50 per cent on the year before, including an annual bonus worth 100 per cent of his basic salary. Meanwhile, Andy Hornby, chief [...]
VAT revenues rise to highest amount ever as HMRC pockets £157bn in just one year May 13, 2022 HMRC collected a record £157.2bn from VAT bills in in the last tax year, a 55 per cent jump on the £101bn collected in 2020/21, after businesses were forced to make up for VAT payments they deferred during the pandemic. Accountants have told City A.M. that HMRC’s VAT income has risen sharply after the rate [...]