Papa John’s UK reports turnover and profit boost: Papa John’s UK, the country’s third-largest pizza delivery company, has reported turnover rose 19% to £67,256,000 in the year to 31 December 2017. The company made a pre-tax profit of £6,423,000, up from £5,268,000 the year before. The company stated: “Turnover has increased through a combination of store growth and increased like-for-like sales from continuing operations in the franchised Papa John’s store network. For the 12th consecutive year, underlying comparable sales of our UK outlets grew. The pizza market does, however, remain intensely competitive with significant promotional discounting continuing to take place in 2018 as in prior years. With the weakening of the pound following the EU exit vote and most of our food ingredients being sourced outside the UK, we are seeing increases in our food input prices. This will lead to some increases in prices to the UK consumer. But, at present, it’s not considered this will have a material impact of profitability.” The company reported trading on Friday and Saturday contribute 44% of total sales of an average week. The UK contributed £64,887,000 of total sales (2016: £54,929,000) with Ireland producing £2,369,000 of turnover (2016: £1,610,000).

Krispy Kreme curtails hours of first Irish drive-thru because of noise caused by massive queues: Ireland’s first Krispy Kreme store has been forced to curtail hour at its 24-hour drive-thru after massive demand through the night caused complaints of late-night noise and “honking cars”. The brand opened the outlet in the Dublin suburb of Blanchardstown last week, with customers waiting in long lines of cars to pick up doughnuts every night. Multiple noise complaints led to the drive-thru’s opening hours being cut to between 6.30am and 11.30pm. It came as a result of impatient people beeping horns in massive traffic queues, disturbing residents in nearby apartment complexes. From now, customers will have to walk into the store, where wait times have been approximately ten to12 minutes. “We’ve listened to our neighbours and we’re making changes immediately,” said Krispy Kreme chef executive Richard Cheshire in a statement. “We anticipated a warm welcome for Krispy Kreme in Ireland and have long wanted to open a store here, but the response has been way ahead of our most optimistic expectations.”

Lucky Voice to open first London site for decade, plans another venue in capital next year: Karaoke company Lucky Voice is to open its first site in London for a decade with plans for another venue in the capital next year. The company, which has three owner-operated sites in Soho, Islington and Brighton, has acquired a venue in Chancery Lane, Holborn, that will open in early 2019. The 5,000 square foot venue will feature the company’s largest VIP karaoke room, with capacity for more than 25 people. It will have a late licence until 3am on weekdays and 4am at weekends. Lucky Voice plans to invest more than £1.5m to develop the site following a ten-year hiatus to develop its online karaoke and franchise offerings. The new venue marks the latest milestone in a period of development for Lucky Voice, with the refurbishment of its Islington venue and the launch of a Dubai franchise during the past year. As well as another London site opening in 2019, it will look to other major UK cities in the coming years. Managing director Charlie Elek said: “We are excited to bring another late-night entertainment venue to the area and play our part in keeping the mayor’s dream of a 24-hour city alive. The success of Lucky Voice (Christmas bookings are already 20% up on last year) reflects the fact there is demand for after-hours entertainment in our capital and we’re proud to cater for that.”

Cinnamon Collection reports like-for-like sales growth of 8.4%: Cinnamon Collection, the company that operates four restaurants in London, including Cinnamon Club in Westminster and a site in Oxford that opened in October 2017, has reported turnover rose to £11,548,205 in the year to 31 December 2017, up from £7,352,412 in the previous nine-month accounting period. Like-for-like sales were up 8.4% and Ebitda increased 16% to £646,677. Operating loss was £562,206, compared to £373,779 in the nine-month previous period. The company is a subsidiary of Boparan Restaurant Holdings. 

Restaurant Property markets two Tiger Tiger sites on behalf of Novus: Property agent Restaurant Property has been instructed by Novus to market the leasehold interests in two Tiger Tiger venues, located in Leeds and Cardiff. Leeds is spread across two floors totaling 21,785 square foot and benefits from a 4am licence. Cardiff is spread across three floors totaling 17,027 square foot and benefits from a 3am licence. The Tiger Tiger brand started in London in December 1998 and then launched in five other locations. Restaurant Property is also marketing the Piccadilly Institute, 1 Piccadilly Circus, London on behalf of Novus. The 13,891 square foot multi-storey site is being offered as a lease assignment.

Cinema operator reports turnover breaks through £100m mark: The operator of Showcase and Cinema de Luxe, National Amusements, has reported turnover rose to £106.5m in the year ended 4 January 2018 (£92.9m in the previous year). A new cinema that opened in February 2017 boosted attendance by 7.6% over the previous year – and was up 2% without the new opening. Its profit before tax was £256,931, compared with a loss of £3,035,154 the year before.

CG Restaurants Holdings reports turnover and Ebitda boost: CG Restaurants Holdings, the bar and restaurant company owned by the Coffer family, has reported turnover rose to £22.3m in the year to 31 December 2017. Ebitda climbed to £940,000 from £880,000 the year before. Loss before tax was £579,702, compared with £648,605 the year before.