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Azzurri Group heralds “transformative year” underlined by move into QSR sector: Azzurri Group, the hospitality investment platform which operates ASK Italian, Zizzi, Coco di Mama, Boojum and Dave’s Hot Chicken UK, has said that the year to 30 June 2025, was a transformative one for the circa 230-strong business, as it reported “a robust financial performance in a challenging market”. The Towerbrook-backed, Steve Holmes-led business reported revenue of £303.1m (2024: £303.1m) in the period, gross profit of £38.2m (2024: £41.9m) and an operating loss of £2.7m (2024: £0.4m). It said that this converted to underlying adjusted Ebitda of £31.6m, excluding £1.4m of strategic investments in Dave’s Hot Chicken, the US QSR brand it introduced to the UK last December, and the UK expansion of Boojum, which have resulted in losses in the period. The company said its underlying performance “compares favourably with our FY24 result of £32.1m, demonstrating the cash-generative strength of our core estate”. Total reported adjusted EBITDA was £30.2m, which it said reflected its “commitment to investing in long-term growth opportunities”. The business opened a new ASK in Preston and Zizzi in Woking during the year, while completing 16 strategic refurbishments across both brands. The company said: “Technology investment continued to enhance our guest experience, with ASK Italian launching its new Perks app and our Zillionaires Loyalty Club surpassing one million members – a testament to our brands’ customer engagement and retention capabilities. Boojum’s performance in Ireland continues to deliver outstanding unit economics with strong performance across key metrics including average weekly sales and margin conversion. It has begun its expansion into Great Britain and we are pleased with the results of this development. Coco di Mama achieved the strongest like-for-like performance in the group, supported by proposition improvements, growth in its Roadchef partnership, and the successful nationwide launch of its sourdough baguettes across over 1,000 Sainsbury’s stores. ASK and Zizzi remain the profitable bedrock of our group, continuing to be at the forefront of the Italian casual dining sector with strong unit economics, compelling menu innovation, and an unwavering focus on customer experience. Their consistent performance provides the foundation for our strategic diversification and growth investments.” The inaugural Dave Hot Chicken site in London’s Shaftesbury Avenue became the highest grossing sales site ever opened by Azzurri. Sites under the US brand have since opened in Birmingham New Street, Printworks Manchester, Westfield White City and Stevenage and are “trading ahead of expectations”. The company, which plans to open 15 Dave’s sites by the end of next June, said it had a very strong pipeline of nine additional sites to open in FY26, including Cardiff and Dublin. Earlier this year, it signed an agreement to roll out a minimum of 180 Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurants across Europe. It said its QSR sites revenue grew 13.5% to £49.4m in 2025 (2024: £43.5m). Earlier this summer, the company completed a refinancing allowing the repayment of maturing senior debt facilities. The new facilities expire in March 2030 and the group said the refinanced position provides it with additional capital to accelerate future growth. Steve Holmes, chief executive of Azzurri Group said: “Last year, we consolidated our strategy to deliver outstanding food, service, and value through a balanced portfolio of high-performing brands, supported by a platform that drives operational excellence and innovation. Doing so enabled us to successfully navigate the challenging UK hospitality backdrop and deliver a robust financial performance. Looking to the year ahead, we have exciting plans for all of the different growth levers we benefit from. Our established brands, ASK and Zizzi, will continue to innovate and strengthen their leading positions. We will advance our plans to replicate Boojum’s huge Irish success in Great Britain. Coco di Mama will build on its significant opportunities in supermarkets and in delivery kitchens. Most excitingly of all, we have an ambitious pipeline of sites across the UK for Dave’s Hot Chicken and will also start our expansion plans in Continental Europe.”

Premium Club subscribers to receive new searchable and segmented New Openings Database tomorrow: The next Propel New Openings Database will be sent to Premium Club subscribers tomorrow (Friday, 7 November), at 12pm. The database will show the details of 213 site openings, including which company has opened a site or its plans to open one in the future. The database will have details on what type of site it is and its location, and there will also be a website link to the businesses. The database is published on a monthly basis and Premium Club subscribers will also receive a 14,673-word report on the 213 new additions to the database. It is segmented into seven categories – cafe bakery, casual dining, experiential leisure, fine dining, hotels, pubs and bars, and quick service restaurants – making it even easier for users to search. The database includes new openings in the experiential leisure sector such as Omniplex Cinema Group, Ireland’s largest cinema company, with an opening in Glasgow, LGBTQ+ cabaret collective Screaming Alley opening The Alley Bar in Ramsgate, and Three Sisters, a new holistic wellness studio and salad bar concept, with a launch in London’s Mayfair. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five other databases: the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the Multi-Site Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database and the Who’s Who of UK Hospitality. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events and discounts on specialist sector reports. Operators that are Premium Club subscribers are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club subscribers receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club subscribers also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.

Hospitality bosses urge Reeves to spare pain: More than 300 chief executives of hospitality businesses have written to the chancellor urging the government not to raise taxes or business rates on the sector in this month’s budget. The Times reports that in a letter to Rachel Reeves, the bosses said she needed to deliver “urgent action” in the budget on 26 November, so that the sector can play its part in the government’s goals of hiring young people, boosting tourism, regenerating high streets and “ultimately, drive economic growth”. After Reeves’ maiden budget last year, in which she laid out unprecedented increases in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) and guided rises to the national minimum wage, the hospitality sector now has the highest tax bill in the economy, UKHospitality said. “The impact of the last budget was devastating”, Kate Nicholls, chairwoman of the trade body, said, adding that the £3.4bn in extra annual costs to the sector had led to job losses, reduced investment and business closures. “Without action, we will see these impacts continue and intensify,” Nicholls said. “In two weeks time, these businesses and the millions of people they employ need to see measures to reduce hospitality’s cost burden and back our sector.” Hospitality bosses are calling for the government to cut business rates by delivering the maximum discount for hospitality properties with a rateable value of less than £500,000 and to apply no penalty charges to businesses with larger premises over that value. Business rates, which generated £27bn in the 2023-24 tax year, have long been criticised for being outdated and last autumn Reeves promised to bring in a “fairer business rates system”. UKHospitality, which represents 130,000 venues, including pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, indoor leisure facilities and contract catering, is also urging the government to extend NIC exemptions to include young people and individuals returning to work from welfare and to cut VAT on hospitality to drive investment and make the industry more competitive. The 340 signatories of the letter include Big Table Group, the owner of Bella Italia and Café Rouge, Butlin’s, Fuller’s, Greene King, Loungers, Merlin Entertainments, the owner of Madame Tussauds, Stonegate and Wagamama.

Diageo hires Sir Dave Lewis as new CEO: Diageo has hired Sir Dave Lewis, formerly of Tesco, as its new chief executive and executive director, effective on 1 January 2026. Lewis, who takes over from Debra Crew, who stepped down earlier this summer as Diageo chief executive, served as group chief executive of Tesco from 2014 to 2020, where he transformed the business and, prior to this, spent nearly three decades at Unilever, latterly in executive committee roles, leading on both marketing and business performance. Additionally, he has been the chair of Haleon, a global leader in consumer healthcare, since its creation in 2022 and is a non-executive board director of PepsiCo Inc. He will be stepping down from the Haleon role on 31 December 2025. The company said: “Dave is a proven chief executive with extensive marketing and brand building experience. He has an outstanding track record leading global consumer businesses, growing world-class brands, and providing operational and financial rigour.” Sir John Manzoni, Diageo’s chair, who led the succession process on behalf of the board, said: “We are delighted to welcome Dave as Diageo’s new chief executive. Having conducted an extensive and thorough global search, the board unanimously felt that Dave has both the extensive chief executive experience, and the proven leadership skills in building and marketing world-leading brands, that is right for Diageo at this time. We are confident that Dave will work with the team to take Diageo into its next successful chapter in the evolving consumer environment. The board wishes to recognise and thank Nik Jhangiani for his excellent leadership as interim chief executive and for continuing to drive forward Diageo’s sharpened strategy.” Lewis said: “Diageo is a world leading business with a portfolio of very strong brands, and I am delighted to be joining the team. The market faces some headwinds but there are also significant opportunities. I look forward to working with the team to face these challenges and realise some of the opportunities in a way which creates shareholder value.” The company said that Nik Jhangiani will continue as interim chief executive until the end of December 2025 and then resume his chief financial officer role thereafter.

SSP chairman Mike Clasper to step down: SSP Group, the UK operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, has announced that Mike Clasper CBE has informed the business that he intends to step down as both chair and director following the company’s 2026 AGM on 23 January 2026. Clasper joined SSP as a non-executive director and chair designate in November 2019 and was appointed chair in February 2020. SSP initiated a process for the appointment of a successor, led by Carolyn Bradley, senior independent director. If a successor has not been appointed by the 2026 AGM, Bradley will become interim chair. Clasper said: “It has been a privilege to serve as chair of SSP. As a board, we are finalising SSP’s multi-year strategic and operational roadmap to build on its strong foundations and accelerate the delivery of shareholder value. In order to enable the appointment of a new chair who can help realise the full scale of these ambitions in the years ahead, I believe that now is the right time to announce that I will step down from SSP, bringing forward my planned retirement by one year.” Patrick Coveney, group chief executive, said: “I’d like to personally thank Mike for his considerable service to SSP and for his commitment, insight and support. He has chaired the business through a time of considerable change, helping to recover the business from the covid travel shutdown and strengthen our customer, client and partner footprint across the world. His wise counsel and leadership have been invaluable.”