July sales down 6% on pre-covid-19 levels at managed restaurants, pubs and bars but rolling 12-month sales drop 20%: Britain’s managed pub, restaurant and bar groups lifted sales back close to pre-covid-19 levels in July to continue hospitality’s recovery from the pandemic, the latest Coffer CGA Business Tracker has revealed. The Tracker, produced by CGA in partnership with The Coffer Group and RSM, showed total sales were just 6% down on the same month in 2019. Restaurants had a particularly strong month, with sales only 2% below the same period in 2019, while drink-led pubs and pub restaurants were down 9% and 8%, respectively. Bars benefited from the easing of restrictions on the late-night sector, as sales ended 3% short of 2019 comparable figures. Managed venues benefited from generally good weather in July and the popularity of “staycations” at the start of the school holidays. Domestic tourism contributed to a much better July for regions beyond London than the capital – sales outside the M25 were down by 2% year-on-year but, within the M25, they dropped 15% as visitor and worker numbers remained low. July’s solid performance comes despite a host of challenges for hospitality businesses, including widespread staffing shortages relating to recruitment issues and the “pingdemic”, supply problems and ongoing caution among some consumers. The Tracker also showed the lasting impacts of covid-19 on hospitality, with rolling 12-month sales to the end of July 2021 down by 20% on the previous 12 months to July 2020 – a period that included the country’s first full national lockdown. Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA, said: “While sales are still some way short of what we would expect at this time of year, July was another steady month of recovery for hospitality. Restaurants are enjoying the release of latent demand for meals out, and the return of nightclubs and late-night bars was a milestone in the journey back to normality for the drinking-out sector. Trading conditions remain difficult though, and the 20% drop in rolling sales since July 2020 highlights covid-19’s heavy toll on the sector and the need for continued support.” Coffer Corporate Leisure managing director Mark Sheehan added: “Much behaviour is different, and more time is spent closer to home, but the numbers, overall, are steadily improving. The future is getting brighter.”

Deliveroo appoints new vice-president of strategic restaurant partnerships: Deliveroo has appointed Adam Bishop as vice-president of strategic restaurant partnerships. Bishop has responsibility for leading the global enterprise account management, global new business, Deliveroo Signature platform and commercial partnerships divisions within Deliveroo. He will report to chief marketplace officer Eric French. Bishop has joined from BBC Studios – the international production and content financing and distribution division of the BBC – where, over the past five years, he was the senior vice-president and chief commercial officer for EMEA key markets. He was responsible for all commercial activity of BBC Studios through its consumer-facing markets in EMEA, including the distribution of TV channels and on-demand services such as BBC First, BBC Earth, BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle and BBC Player, as well as co-production and content licensing to major partner broadcasters and platforms. Prior to the BBC, Bishop worked at Procter & Gamble (P&G) for 13 years, covering a wide-range of senior commercial and management roles, including the cross-functional leadership of the Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco household accounts and leading the UK and Ireland commercial strategy teams for P&G’s Female Beauty brand portfolio. The appointment comes following strong growth and consumer engagement for Deliveroo this year. In the second quarter, gross transaction value in the UK and Ireland grew 87% year-on-year to £921m, while orders rose 94% year-on-year to 38 million during the same time period. A Deliveroo spokeswoman said: “Adam will lead our strategic restaurant partnerships globally and play a leading role to help Deliveroo improve and expand our restaurant proposition, and develop strategic and long-lasting relationships with our partners.”