Hundreds of hospitality workers protest outside parliament as London operators warn they ‘won’t survive winter’ under tier two restrictions: Hundreds of hospitality workers protested outside parliament as operators warned they “will not survive the winter” after an “horrendous” first weekend of London’s tier two restrictions triggered tens of thousands of cancellations. The peaceful protest was held against “the country’s most valuable and much-loved industries being brought to its knees”. The HospoDemo urged the government to revise its policies relating to hospitality venues. Protestors came together to represent their trades, dressed in uniform, equipped with pots, pans, ladles, cocktail shakers, wooden spoons and other hospitality-related props. It came after the first weekend of new “no mixing indoor” laws, which resulted in up to 75% of bookings being scrapped. Des Gunewardena, chief executive of D&D London, told the Evening Standard: “Friday was a strong day with everybody out for dinner before tier two kicked in. But Saturday was a disaster for our big West End restaurants: Quaglino’s and 100 Wardour Street both dropped 50% compared with last Saturday. These restaurants are massively reliant on their weekend business with weekdays being quiet without office workers and tourists, and theatres closed. It is a real kick in the teeth for the West End. And very upsetting given the government, through Public Health Engand, keeps putting out its statistics every day saying covid is mainly in schools, universities and care homes, not in restaurants.” Revolution Bars Group chief executive Rob Pitcher said of its five sites in the capital: “On Saturday, the sales in our London bars dropped 60% compared with the previous week, meaning they were down 80% compared with the same Saturday last year. London is now our worst affected area in England, outside of Liverpool.” East London Pub Company founder Patrick Frawley added: “There was a big impact this weekend. We saw 40% to 50% cancellations across the businesses. Business support, including reduced VAT, cash grants to businesses, wage assistance to keep staff in employment are critical for bar and restaurant survival.” Thomas Kidd, managing director of Adventure Bars, said: “It’s extremely challenging, there’s no way any bar or restaurant in tier two can possibly be making money now. Every time there’s another level of complexity added with a new ruling we then have to enforce it and we have a spike in conflict situations that we are having to manage. So we’ve got staff members being threatened physically and verbally because they’re trying to enforce this legislation.” Greg Marchand, chef-patron of Frenchie Covent Garden, said: “Last week, we did about 430 covers and the forecast for this week is 215, and the week after only 71. It’s a scary time indeed.” Richard Corrigan, chef-patron of Corrigan’s Mayfair, Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill and Bentley’s Sea Grill in Harrods, added: “We had 35 all day on Saturday and 15 no-shows. I feel I am pulling a crate uphill with no brakes.”

Prestige Purchasing to host free webinar for operators on how to protect the bottom line by improving gross margin by up to 5%: Supply chain specialist Prestige Purchasing is hosting a free webinar for operators about how to protect the bottom line by improving gross margin by up to 5%. Experts from Prestige Purchasing will be joined by Prezzo executive chairman Karen Jones to help businesses navigate their way in a perfect storm without negatively impacting customers, product quality or brand reputation. Prestige Purchasing chairman David Read will set out the huge risks and opportunities presented by a no-deal Brexit; why managing gross margin could save your business; and why doing nothing will increase your costs in the year ahead. Chief executive Shaun Allen will look at “sweating the detail” – why decisions made about menus and production methods have a huge impact on the cost of food and drink; and how to be sure you are optimising the cost of your purchases, without damaging quality, service and innovation. Chief commercial officer David Kelleher will help operators deliver improvements into the P&L and provide examples of success. Meanwhile, Jones will discuss the importance of the supply chain at Prezzo. To register, operators should email anne.steele@propelinfo.com and a link to view the webinar will be sent at 9am on Tuesday, 3 November.

‘Fire break’ lock-down in Wales will ‘devastate’ sector businesses and jobs without stronger financial support, trade bodies warn: The “fire break” lock-down in Wales will “devastate” hospitality businesses and jobs without stronger financial support, sector trade bodies have warned. Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has confirmed hospitality businesses will have to shut from 6pm on Friday (23 October) and be able to offer takeaway only. Only “critical” workers will be allowed to leave their homes. Small and medium-sized retail, leisure and hospitality firms that have to close will get a one-off payment of up to £5,000. There will be additional discretionary grants and support for smaller firms that are struggling, the government said. However, UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls tweeted: “Three weekends and half term – Welsh tourism businesses will be devastated and many jobs lost without support.” The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) said the move would force more than 3,000 pubs to shut until 9 November, putting 37,000 jobs at risk without additional financial help. BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “We need the cash grants to fully cover lost revenue and high fixed costs for all pubs, including those with a rateable value above £50,000. The Welsh government must now urgently do the right thing and extend the availability of the full financial support package to all pubs, no matter what their rateable value is, as well as to brewers and pubs’ other suppliers. This is to ensure they survive this fire break lock-down and will be able to serve their communities and to support thousands of local jobs and livelihoods once more.”

 

Nick Mackenzie – tier two restrictions mean ‘closure in all but name’ for pubs: Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of brewer and retailer Greene King, has said tier two restrictions mean “closure in all but name” for pubs. Speaking to radio station LBC on Sunday (18 October), Mackenzie called for chancellor Rishi Sunak to offer the same furlough and business support – which is available for pubs in tier three – to hospitality venues in tier two areas. He said: “The restrictions the tier two pubs are being put into is a closure in all but name. Some pubs are 80% down year-on-year and that is just not viable. The effect of this is closure and, therefore, the support we need is absolutely critical to be able to save jobs. We need the tier three support to apply to tier two and we need that to happen quickly. The chancellor needs to look at this in the early part of [this] week, and make some sort of announcement because the impact on trade is severe and we know furlough in its current form runs out on 31 October.” He also warned “hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk” across the sector. He said: “The impact in the city centres, particularly in central London, has been extremely challenging.” Last week, mayor of London Sadiq Khan sent a letter to prime minister Boris Johnson calling for more support for London’s businesses and said he was “very concerned about the impact of tier two on the hospitality sector”. Asked by LBC whether he was surprised the mayor had not held out on agreeing to higher restrictions without more government money for businesses in the capital, Mackenzie said: “Look, I don’t want to get caught in the politics of this, but I am surprised with the limited amount of support London pubs and London businesses, particularly, have had during this crisis.”

 

Leisure sector likely to remain ‘resilient’ despite record number of shop closures: The leisure sector is likely to remain resilient despite a record number of shops closing during the first half of 2020 due to the coronavirus lock-down, according to new research. The findings from the Local Data Company and accountancy firm PwC showed 11,000 chain operator outlets shut between January and August this year. It said while most recent store openings and closures research “paints a particularly bleak picture of what’s to come”, arguably, however, the crisis has “simply accelerated a restructuring that was already needed – it’s just more painful than expected due to the speed of change, which has left businesses little time to react”. The research stated: “For leisure, the past five years have been dominated by the takeaway and coffee shop boom. And while many expect coffee shops and food-to-go to be heavily affected by any post-covid-19 environment, leisure is likely to remain resilient in the shape of takeaways and pizza delivery shops.” About 5,000 shops opened, leaving a net decline of 6,001 stores, almost double the drop during the same period last year. The data showed there has been a steady rise in shop closures since 2017, when the total was 6,453, increasing by at least 1,000 almost every year. The sectors that have seen consistent growth over the past five years include value retailers and discount supermarkets. It also predicted a rise in local tradesmen outlets, building products and locksmiths, as services such as banks and post offices move away from the high street. Lucy Stainton, head of retail and strategic partnerships at the Local Data Company, said: “Agile retailers that are able to innovate and adapt quickly, such as Pret launching its coffee subscription service or e-bike retailer Pure Electric, which has opened 13 stores this year, will be the most resilient as we head towards the end of a year that, arguably, has been the most challenging in recent history.”

 

Peter Backman – there will be a dawn, and the bold and imaginative will take advantage of it: Sector analyst Peter Backman has argued the next few years will present exciting opportunities, and although we are in “a dark time, possibly the darkest”, there will be “a dawn”, and the “bold and the imaginative will take advantage of it”. Backman said: “The next few years will present exciting opportunities as consumers rediscover their mojo, redundant sites become available at attractive prices and new entrepreneurs craft offers that take advantage of major changes such as these. But we have to get from here to there – and that will call for endurance and resilience. I have been mesmerised by the stately growth in restaurant sales as year follows year, driven by innovation and agility – with only the great recession of 2009 to spoil the story of onrushing growth. And then covid hit – and it hit hard. In the second quarter of this year, sales fell not just to the level of ten years ago, or even 20 years ago; they fell to 68% of the figure seen in the second quarter of 1985 – 35 years ago. Since then, of course, and thankfully, the market has grown again, and I expect the figures for the third quarter to show a sharp rise to recover perhaps half of the fall. And as the years progress, future growth will be manifest as the impact of covid on consumers’ fears reduces, as the economy rebuilds (a very slow process) – and operators and investors reshape the restaurant infrastructure. In short, we are in a dark time, possibly the darkest, but there will be a dawn. The bold and the imaginative will take advantage of it.” Backman also argued while the coffee shop sector clearly has momentum, its customer base is changing. He said: “The onset of working from home (likely to continue in my view) means customers are now to be found in places where they didn’t used to be. Operators are already working their way around these changes. Above all, the sector is showing resilience built on its ability to change business models, find new locations and develop new product offerings for the post-covid customer.”

 

Liverpool City Region handed extra £30m for tier three restrictions: Liverpool City Region has secured an extra £30m boost from the government is the fight against coronavirus. The north west area was placed into tier three conditions, which meant tighter restrictions compared with most of the country. Liverpool City Region had already been handed £14m to support its local test, trace and isolate scheme and for further covid-secure efforts and also had a £7m package on entering tier two, so the area has gained a total of £51m. Metro mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Once it became clear that tier three restrictions were going to be imposed on our city region, we held a series of meetings with the government, throughout last weekend, with the aim of protecting our NHS and supporting local people and businesses. We have been absolutely clear since we were put into tier three we would continue to press the government and hold meaningful dialogue to secure vitally needed extra economic support. This is welcome news for our economy and the thousands of people whose businesses and jobs will now be supported through this very difficult period.”

 

Small sector businesses retain same level of confidence in expansion: The percentage of small hospitality businesses that remain confident in expansion has stayed the same from one quarter to the next, according to research by Hitachi Capital Business Finance. A survey carried out by the financial services company found 27% of small firms collectively believed their operations would enjoy organic/modest growth (24%) or significant expansion (4%) when surveyed after the government announced plans to introduce the three tier system in October, and when asked in July, the figures were identical. However, the same question in April produced a collective percentage of just 14% showing any confidence. Conversely, when business leaders from all sectors were quizzed in October, just 18% thought there would be any expansion in the hospitality and leisure category. Hitachi Capital Business Finance head of insight Joanna Morris said: “Despite the changed context from the summer months, with covid numbers now again rising sharply, our data suggests small businesses are reacting positively to the current circumstances. The avoidance of national lock-down and the consensus there will be restrictions through until March has at least given small business owners a degree of certainty against which to plan. The figures for whether their business will survive remained similar for October (12%) and July (11%) but both are a marked improvement on the 29% registered by small hospitality firms in April. Businesses also explained what they were doing to strengthen for next year, with the top three results being reducing fixed costs (32%), increasing new business income and sales (26%) and having more contingency plans in the event of prolonged market uncertainty (25%).

 

Pete Brown wins accolade for self-published beer book: Beer writer Pete Brown has seen his latest offer win Best Beer Book at the North American Guild of Beer Writers awards. Craft: An Argument, was conceived, written, edited and self-published in 13 weeks during lock-down. It’s not the first time Brown has won awards for his writing, having been published by Pan Macmillan, Penguin and Jacqui Small Publishing, but it was the first time he had published the whole book himself. He said: “Craft: An Argument had been a niche idea that I’d been developing for a while. I gave a presentation about it to South Africa’s Beer Boot Camp conference and it went down so well I realised it resonated much deeper than I’d thought with brewers and craft beer fans. I mentioned it to a couple of publisher friends but, given the climate, they weren’t ready to take a punt on it.” Craft: An Argument deconstructs the issues people have with labelling beer “craft” and explores them within the context of the modern craft movement, taking in Cartesian duality, the ever-changing nature of work, the evolution of language and the meaning of knowledge itself.

 

Job of the day: COREcruitment is working with a premium restaurant business as it looks to appoint a new general manager, based in Cheltenham, paying up to £45,000. With six sites also across the south east of England, the business is in a good position to grow in the coming year. This general management position would suite a creative individual who is passionate about the food industry and has extensive experience in high-volume, premium restaurants. Experience in company/brand restaurants as well as individual restaurants would be ideal. The incoming general manager will need to be able to think independently, drive sales, delivery exceptional customer service and build and motivate a growing front-of-house team. This position will also require strong stock management, budgeting and P&L control. Anyone interested can email Stuart@corecruitment.com

 

Individual Restaurants – reopening sales and profits have exceeded expectations: Individual Restaurants, which operates circa 30 sites under the Piccolino and Restaurant Bar & Grill brands, has said since reopening, sales and profits have exceeded its expectations. In its group accounts filed at Companies House, the business stated: “As for all of us in the sector, lock-down was a painful and worrying time. Since reopening, sales and profits have exceeded our expectations. The size of our restaurants has allowed us to meet demand even with strict social distancing and dine-safe measures in place. We have limited exposure to central London, which has been the hardest hit and our affluent suburban locations have traded very well with the shift change towards home working and staycation Britain. Online continues to beat expectations. As we look to the winter with this second wave of the virus and restrictions imposed on eating out, there are challenging and uncertain times ahead. However, we are ready to weather the storm with the same resilience the business has delivered in lock-down, reopening and performance to date.” Earlier this year, the business launched its own premium collection and delivery service. It said: “The business goes from strength to strength, and with the changing consumer behaviour towards online it will be a further focus for our growth in the future.” Post the group’s year end to 30 March 2019, the business finalised a new £36m banking facility and acquired a majority stake in Gino D’Acampo Worldwide Restaurants. In 2015, the company entered into a joint venture with the chef, to launch new restaurant brand Gino D’Acampo – My Restaurant. The combined group comprises 37 restaurants (21 Piccolino, eight Bar & Grills and eight Gino D’Acampo). It is understood Individual Restaurants backer Sir Malcolm Walker, the founder of frozen food chain Iceland, supported the Gino D’Acampo chain with a loan that was registered earlier in October. This came after the business led by the chef posted full-year sales of £12.4m, but losses of £2.9m. Sales in the 12 months to 30 March 2019 for Individual Restaurants declined from £61.8m to £58.4m, while group Ebitda fell from £7.1m to £6.5m.

Hawthorn extends rent support as government package is ‘insufficient’: Hawthorn Leisure, the pub operations arm of NewRiver, has extended its rent support in response to local lock-downs because it does not feel the government’s financial package is sufficient. The additional support will see pubs affected by the Welsh “fire break” and tier three restrictions in England and the equivalent in Scotland will have their rent credited at 100% for up to an initial four-week period. Pubs within tier two areas will be offered rent relief ranging from 33% to 80%, based on the affordability of their rent against their turnover. Pubs in tier one continue to be eligible for its support grant where operators can apply for individual support where they are not able to meet all outgoings. Chief executive Mark Davies said: “The government support offered to pubs in tier three in England, and to those affected by widespread closures in Scotland, and the ‘fire break’ in Wales from this Friday, simply does not go far enough. Pubs still have to cover all normal overheads and ensure there is food on the tables of their own families at the end of the week. The grants made available by the various governments, while welcome, fail to cover the weekly overheads most businesses encounter. We are also offering all of our partners the chance to co-invest with us through our ‘Partner Investment Fund’ where we will match every £1 spent up to £5,000 each, which does not need to be repaid. This is to help improve outside space and increase internal covers to enable our pubs to maximise their trading opportunity against the ever-changing restrictions in place.”

The Natural Kitchen in administration: Deli and cafe concept The Natural Kitchen has become the latest London-based operator to be placed into administration. Propel understands restructuring firm Quantuma has been appointed as administrator to the nine-strong brand’s parent company TNK. Propel revealed last month, the Justin Green-led business was working with property advisers Lambert Smith Hampton in regards to the marketing of its business. It is thought that a deadline for offers had been set for Monday, 21 September. The company opened its latest site, at St Katharine Docks, in summer 2018 after taking over the former Tom’s Kitchen site. Earlier this year, it was linked with taking a site on the ground floor at 100 Bishopsgate. The company also operates sites in Angel Court, Marylebone High Street, Tudor Street, Baker Street, New Street Square, Waterloo Station, Aldersgate and Trinity Square. All of the sites remain temporarily closed. Posting on the company’s website on the continued closures, managing director Green said: “With the continued uncertainty surrounding the covid-19 virus crisis, The Natural Kitchen will remain closed beyond the 4 July government reopening date. The reasons for this decision are the challenging social distancing restrictions and the continuing advice to you, our customers, to work from home whenever possible. Therefore, without the majority of our customers back in the city, The Natural Kitchen cannot trade successfully and opening too early could jeopardise the whole business. After such a long and enforced lock-down and, so far, surviving this crisis, we believe it foolhardy to reopen just yet with the persisting uncertainty.”

‘We are on the verge of breakdown’ says Castle Rock boss, pleads for six-month furlough extension: Nottingham-based brewery and pub operator Castle Rock has urged chancellor Rishi Sunak to take action to support the hospitality trade in the city or thousands of jobs will be lost, as the company revealed revenue is down 50%. Managing director Colin Wilde wrote to Sunak urging a continuation of the furlough scheme to help pay staff wages and for the removal of employers’ national insurance payments and a VAT rate on beer so the playing field is levelled with supermarkets. Nottingham has been placed in tier two, which means it has more restrictions than tier one but without the potential financial assistance available to sites in tier three. Wilde, whose 22 Castle Rock pubs have not been responsible for a single positive coronavirus case, said in his letter: “Our own revenues across 22 pubs and a brewery are 50% down, but our costs have gone up. Rent and loan interests still need to be met, and the expense of being covid-compliant is extensive. Castle Rock has been a successful business since 1977 but that is now changing. It is not unrealistic to ask for continued help that will see visible businesses like our through the next stage of the pandemic, which will, in turn, secure our considerable contributions to the economy in the future. As a pub group and brewery, operating for nearly 45 years in Nottinghamshire, we are on the verge of breakdown. The entire supply chain is impacted by every unfair restriction placed on pubs, with businesses operating in an array of industries taking a resulting hit, from food suppliers to electricians, to marketing professionals, to breweries like ourselves. The list is long and devastating.” Wilde has made ten members of staff redundant and reduced his own wages in March in a bid to help the company and retain jobs.

 

German Doner Kebab to open 12 new UK sites and create almost 500 jobs, August like-for-likes up 46%: German Doner Kebab (GDK), the flagship concept of Hero Brands, has pledged to open 12 new UK sites by the end of 2020. The move is expected to create 480 new jobs while GDK eyes further growth in Canada, Sweden and Saudi Arabia. The company’s UK branches enjoyed a boost in sales during the Eat Out To Help Out initiative in August with sales up 46% versus the same period in 2019; while total sales, which includes new sites that have opened since September 2019, saw this figure increase to 139%. Locations targeted for new stores include Liverpool, Nottingham, Bradford, Plymouth and further sites in London and Edinburgh. GDK has opened 35 venues during the past three years with 350 in the pipeline for the next seven years. GDK chief executive Imran Sayeed said: “We have found ourselves in very challenging times, however, there continues to be a huge demand for the GDK experience throughout the UK and our international growth regions. We are excited to build further momentum in our plans for growth and to create hundreds of new jobs throughout the country as we maintain our mission of building the fast-casual brand of the future.” The business remained open during lock-down for delivery and click and collect. Its partnership with Deliveroo also resulted in 30,000 free meals being made available to front-line NHS workers and vulnerable people. Sayeed added: “We have been primarily a dine-in consumer proposition. However, in line with the UK government’s guidance during lock-down, we quickly remodelled to expand our click and collect takeaway offer and had a huge response to the Eat Out To Help Out scheme, which has reflected in our sales performance during August.” GDK is based in Glasgow, Scotland, but opened its first restaurant in Berlin in 1989. 

 

Zia Lucia to open site in Wandsworth: Zia Lucia is set to open a fifth site under its eponymous concept in London’s Wandsworth. Propel understands the company, which was founded by Claudio Vescovo and Gianluca D’Angel, has secured the former Chit Chaat Chai site in Old York Road for an opening before the end of the year. Earlier this year, Zia Lucia made its debut in the City, with an opening at Piazza Walk in Aldgate. Zia Lucia offers four types of slow-fermented dough – vegetable charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional – alongside starters and desserts. The brand operates other eponymous restaurants in Islington, Hammersmith and Boxpark Wembley as well as pasta concept Berto, also in Islington. Marc Rogers, of MKR Property, acted on the Wandsworth deal. 

 

Polpo placed into administration: Polpo, the restaurant business founded in Soho in 2009 by Russell Norman and Richard Beatty, has been placed into administration. Edward Avery-Gee and Jonathan Avery-Gee, of CG&Co, have been appointed joint administrators for the business, which operated sites in Soho and Chelsea. It is thought Beatty and his wife, chef Florence Knight, may have already bought back both sites under new vehicles The Polpo Chelsea Trading Company and The Polpo Soho Trading Company. Earlier this summer, Norman stepped down as director of Polpo. The business underwent a company voluntary arrangement last year. Earlier this year, Propel revealed the business had placed two of its sites in the capital, in Farringdon and Covent Garden, on the market through property adviser CDG Leisure. It also closed its remaining regional site, in Brighton. Last year, the company put its Polpetto site in Soho’s Berwick Street and eponymous restaurant in Notting Hill Gate up for sale, with the former taken over by all-day concept The Breakfast Club. 

 

SSP signs four-year deal at Hobart airport: UK transport hub foodservice company SSP Group has penned a four-year deal to develop a local food at Hobart airport. The contract is worth circa £15m and SSP has partnered with local brands Liv-eat, Coal River Farm and Cascade to offer Tasmanian food and drink to customers using the island airport off the coast of south east Australia. Liv-eat is a fresh and healthy eating quick service concept; Coal River Farm offers modern Australian cuisine and award-winning cheese and chocolate; and Cascade is Australia’s oldest operating beer brewery. SSP has also introduced mobile ordering for the first time at the airport. SSP Asia Pacific chief executive Mark Angela said: “We’re proud to continue our close partnership with Hobart Airport, spanning well over five years now, especially with the introduction of such prominent local brands Hobart has to offer. We are confident that passengers will come to love the new look and feel of the airport, especially the food on offer and the new brand line-up.” Hobart Airport acting chief executive Matt Cocker added: “We’re really proud to be supporting local businesses and producers after what has been a particularly challenging year. Our team is always striving to improve the customer experience and we’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with SSP to create a space that Tasmanians can be proud of.” 

 

Geek Retreat bucks downturn trend of UK high streets: Geek Retreat, which combines retail space with cafes and areas to play games and hold events, has claimed it will open 100 more stores during the next two years. The Scottish-based retailer has 14 sites that offer refreshments to its customers who enjoy “all things geeky” from comics to table-top games to trading cards. Geek Retreat boss Peter Dobson told the BBC: “During the pandemic, while our gaming events have had to stop and the hospitality side of our business is more difficult, our stores still have loyal communities who support our retail side. We have made sure all of our stores are welcoming and accessible to gamers whatever their interests, providing a place for our loyal customers to get out of the house and play safely post-lock-down.” The retailer said it expected to open sites in Bournemouth, Northampton and Liverpool in coming months, followed by Southampton, Dumfries, Cardiff and Sutton in Greater London. The chain, which operates as a franchise, aims to open five stores per month from the beginning of 2021.

Birmingham-based Vietnamese restaurant swaps Brindleyplace for Bullring: Birmingham-based independent restaurant Vietnamese Street Kitchen is to open a site at the Bullring shopping centre. The family-run business is taking over the premises previously occupied by Handmade Burger Co chain that closed at the start of the year. The new Vietnamese Street Kitchen outlet will replace its now closed Brindleyplace venue and joins the company’s restaurant at Resorts World. Due to open in November, the new Bullring site will be set over two floors and includes an upstairs cocktail bar as well as large dining space below. There will also be a heated outdoor terrace. Vietnamese Street Kitchen’s operations manager Oliver Ngo told The Business Desk: “The decision to move from Brindleyplace to Bullring makes sense in the current climate, with less people working in offices, but actually I’ve been looking to have a restaurant in Bullring for some time. It’s exciting seeing it all coming together.”