Premium Club subscribers to receive updated Multi-Site Database with 3,444 operators and 26 new companies on Friday, videos from Operational Excellence Conference on Friday, 1 August: Premium Club subscribers are to receive the updated Multi-Site Database on Friday, 25 June. The next Propel Multi-Site Database provides details of 3,444 multi-site operators and is searchable in seven main segments. The database features 1,005 (29%) operators from the casual dining sector, 800 (23%) pub and bar operators, 597 (17%) cafe bakery operators, 480 (14%) quick service restaurant (QSR) operators, 283 (8%) hotel operators, 225 (7%) experiential leisure operators and 54 (2%) fine dining operators. The database is updated each month, and this edition includes 26 new companies. The database includes new companies in the QSR sector such Domino’s franchisee Hala Group and Midlands McDonald’s franchisee Cara Restaurants. Premium Club subscribers will also receive all the videos from the Operational Excellence Conference on Friday, 1 August, at 9am. They include Steve Haslam, founder of pub and restaurant operator AIM, talking about improving operating standards to revitalise performance in uniquely challenging times. Premium Club subscribers will also receive all the videos from the Operational Excellence Conference on Friday, 1 August, at 9am. They include Steve Haslam, founder of pub and restaurant operator AIM, talking about improving operating standards to revitalise performance in uniquely challenging times. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five additional databases: the New Openings Database; the Turnover & Profits Blue Book; 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 will be sent a dedicated monthly newsletter that will highlight key updates in the sector and direct subscribers to all the vital content their membership offers. 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.

Which Wich signs first UK multi-unit franchise agreement: US hot customisable sandwich brand Which Wich has signed its first UK multi-unit franchise agreement with Breaking Brands Management, which it said marked “the next major step in its UK expansion”. Breaking Brands, led by experienced operator Steve Lewis, will launch the first locations under the new agreement in Cardiff. With a strong background in hospitality and food retail, the team is well placed to support a successful rollout, overseen by operations manager Chris Young. “We’re only just warming up – this is the first of many exciting announcements we’ll be sharing,” said Rami Awada, UK master franchisee of Which Wich. “Cardiff ticks all the right boxes: diverse, energetic, and full of opportunity. Partnering with a trusted operator like Breaking Brands, we’re set to take Cardiff by storm as we bring our fresh, made-to-order Wiches to new communities across the country.” With a flexible, scalable model and a proven product-market fit, the brand is actively seeking experienced single and multi-unit operators to drive growth across major cities. Awada, who has overseen the brand’s UK development since launch, will continue to lead the national expansion strategy. Propel revealed in February that the brand, which has grown to more than 400 sites globally since being founded in Dallas in 2003 and first entered the UK market in 2018 with a debut store in London’s Covent Garden, was set to kickstart its expansion here with two openings. These would include a Central London location, in Fleet Street, and its Welsh debut, in Cardiff. The former will open at 53 Fleet Street, in a former Chronext luxury watches shop. At the end of 2023, Awada told Propel he was targeting opening 30 UK sites over the next three years “as a conservative estimate”.

Young Europeans may be allowed to stay in UK for longer than a year: European youngsters will be able to move to the UK for more than a year under a youth mobility scheme, the minister in charge of Britain’s relationship with the EU has indicated. The Times reports that this would mean that they would count towards Britain’s official immigration figures, which include anyone who moves to the UK for more than 12 months. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the EU relations minister, said the scheme will mirror Britain’s 13 existing youth mobility schemes with countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Those youth mobility schemes allow youngsters to come to the UK for up to two years, and in some cases, they can be extended by a further year. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is understood to have been pushing for the scheme to be limited to 12 months in order to prevent the scheme adding to immigration numbers. However, a key demand of EU countries is for a scheme that allows youngsters aged 18-30 to move to the UK for more than 12 months. The deal would be reciprocal, meaning British youngsters could move to the continent for the same time period.

Money must work harder as disposable income falls: British households have seen their disposable income fall by a third in the past three months, figures from Moneysupermarket show. The Times reports that the comparison site’s latest household money index showed that the average person had £513.75 left each month between April and June after covering bills and outgoings, down from £682.27 the previous quarter. The average Briton spent £52.14 a day to get by, the equivalent of £1,564.25 a month. The index tracks consumer spending across 31 categories, including utilities, mortgages, insurance, subscriptions and groceries. Lis Barton, chief customer officer of Mony Group, parent company of the comparison site, said there had been “movements up and down” across different categories. “Energy bills have eased off for many this summer, helped along by a lower price cap, milder weather and more fixed-rate deals on the table, offering a bit of breathing space in a still volatile market,” she said. “However, there are some bills that are more difficult to cut, like water and childcare costs.” Essential spending caused a significant squeeze on personal finances, rising to 75% of monthly income compared with 69% from January to March. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the rate of inflation rose to 3.6% in June. Food costs remained a key driver, with butter and beef prices increasing by more than 20% year-on-year. Despite this squeeze, many households continued spending on non-essentials, with TV streaming up by 25%, gym memberships up 21% and gaming up 28%. New data from Deloitte shows that consumer confidence dropped by 2.6 percentage points in the second quarter to -10.4%, the first significant fall since October 2022 when inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1%.

London Stock Exchange plots 24-hour trading to revive interest in shares: Shares in UK-listed companies could be traded 24 hours a day under radical plans from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) to tap into booming demand from night owl traders. The Telegraph reports that the LSEG, which owns the flagship London stock market, is accelerating plans to launch a 24-hour trading platform to boost the appeal of the gloomy UK market and encourage overseas investors and younger traders to buy British shares. Changing trading patterns in the US, where transactions are increasingly done outside of working hours by a new generation of Gen Z retail investors on smartphone apps, is leaving traditional bourses exposed. Cryptocurrency markets, such as Bitcoin trading, already trade around the clock and more people trade shares in the small hours on platforms like Robinhood, making traditional market hours increasingly anachronistic. London-listed shares currently only trade between 8am and 4pm. The LSEG declined to comment on the plan, first reported by the FT, but chief executive David Schwimmer has made no secret of his desire to boost the London market.