Pizza Hut Delivery plans to add 200 stores by 2020: Pizza Hut Delivery is planning to create at least 3,000 new jobs as part of a £40m expansion in the UK and Ireland over the next four years. The 419-store business, owned by Yum! Brands, wants to open a further 200 sites by 2020, the majority of which will be run by franchisees. About 50 of the new stores will be in the Pizza Hut Express format. The business currently has ten Express stores, having recently opened a site at the Westfield Stratford shopping centre in east London. Pizza Hut Delivery’s latest growth plans follow the 100-store, £20m expansion programme it embarked on in 2012. “We’ve built a firm foundation for the business since we opened our first delivery store over 15 years ago,” said Raphael Miolane, the boss of Pizza Hut UK and Ireland. The takeaway company will expand through both its current franchisees and by finding new partners. The £40m earmarked for investment will come from franchisees and Pizza Hut. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without our franchisees and we are looking forward to growing our existing relationships, whilst also developing new partnerships to achieve our ambitions,” Miolane added. The delivery business is separate to Pizza Hut Restaurants, which Yum! Brands, also the owner of KFC and Taco Bell, sold to private equity firm Rutland Partners four years ago. Rutland has now put the chain of 270 restaurants on the block and a host of bidders are thought to be circling.

All Star Lanes eyes rapid expansion after achieving stability: Bowling alley business All Star Lanes is now looking to add ten to 15 sites in three years after new boss Christian Rose, who began running the business in January last year, has put it on a firm footing, The Daily Telegraph reported. Profits began shrinking several years ago, with sites in Brick Lane and Westfield Stratford City struggling. Earnings before tax dropped from £502,000 in 2012, to £426,000 in 2013 to £209,000 the following year. Last year, revenues rose by 3.1% following a complete restructuring of the business, which involved the introduction of a new, high-end menu, and a renewed focus on corporate events. Profit before interest, tax and other considerations has hit £1.13m. Of new openings, Rose said around five of these will be in London, he revealed, with new openings in Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow. “We want to bring the All Star experience to as many cities as we can,” he told The Telegraph. “And we aren’t just taking a existing All Star and planting it in a new city. We’ve learned that you can’t just put our trendy Brick Lane venue anywhere. We have to adapt to the new area and work with local companies and the Chamber of Commerce to give consumers what they want. We’re now generating cash in the business and our shareholders have been extremely supportive. Their funds will support the expansion and the refurbishment of our existing sites, we’ll raise bank debt and future landlords may contribute to the fit-out in return for a long-term lease. There were sites draining the company but they are now profitable. We’ve sorted out the business and now have a clean set of accounts. My first concern was to get the business onto a solid financial footing. It had a turbulent few years for a variety of reasons and my job was to bring it back to stable profitability.” All Star Lanes previously reported a return to pre-tax profit in the year ending 28 December 2014, boosted be the retrieval of some of the cash that was misappropriated the year before. The company suffered ‘efalcation’ in its 2013 financial year – the loss of funds misappropriated by a person trusted with its charge. Companies House documents shows the company lost £1,307,200 in 2013 but recovered £495,000 of the sum previously provided for as a result of the defalcation.

Revolution hires new chief financial officer: Revolution Bars Group has hired Chris Chambers as chief financial officer and he will be joining the company in August 2016. He succeeds Sean Curran, who has informed the board of his intention to leave the company to pursue other business interests, but will remain with the business until September 2016 to ensure an orderly handover. The company stated: “Chris is a highly experienced finance director who joins from Ainscough, the market leading crane hire business, where he was finance director from 2011. Prior to that, he was finance director of Whitworths, the food business. Between 2005 and 2009 he held various roles in finance, IT and operations within Merck KGaA and from 2001 to 2005 he held various finance roles at Novartis AG. He was financial controller, and subsequently group financial controller, of a Fyffes Joint Venture from 1996 to 2001. Sean has been chief financial officer of Revolution Bars Group for 13 years, across a period of significant expansion for the business and he leaves with the board’s thanks for the significant contribution he has made during that time.” Keith Edelman, chairman of Revolution Bars Group, said: “We welcome Chris to the company and to the board. He has broad experience of successfully growing businesses both within large organisations and on a standalone basis. Sean has been an integral member of our management team during his tenure with the business. We owe much gratitude to him for his significant contribution in that time and wish him well in his future endeavours.”