Covid passport backlash as pubs and restaurants say they can’t check QR codes: Pubs, restaurants and nightclubs have said they do not have the technology to scan covid vaccine passports. The Telegraph reported hospitality chiefs said that they did not know how to check QR codes produced by the NHS app as proof of double vaccination, immunity or a recent negative covid test. The government issued guidance this week encouraging venues including pubs, restaurants and nightclubs to begin asking customers for an NHS covid pass from Monday (19 July). But business owners said the vaccine passports could be easily faked because they had not been supplied with the technology to check proof of identity. A government spokesman said an app to allow businesses to scan QR codes would be released tomorrow (Saturday, 17 July) – just two days before the new guidance takes effect. But industry sources pointed out many restaurants and pubs do not have QR readers and questioned whether staff would need to use their personal phones. UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “It’s just another reason why this scheme is totally unworkable. Without being able to scan the QR code, it makes it very difficult to prove this person’s actual covid status. I wonder if it plans to have the technology in place in order to make covid passports mandatory later this year? It won’t work on the door and I don’t know a single one of my members who will be ready to do this on Monday.” Another source in the pub industry described the QR codes as “totally pointless”, adding: “Even if the app arrives before Monday, that gives us no time to get our heads around it. The whole thing is a total last-minute fudge.”

62 companies added to second edition of Blue Book for Premium subscribers generating combined pre-tax profit of £139.4m: The 62 companies added to the updated Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is now available to Premium subscribers, are generating a combined pre-tax profit of £139.4m. The second edition features a total of 280 companies and provides an overview of the most recent five years, ranking them by turnover and profit conversion. It also shows directors’ earnings over five years and the top-earning director. Total turnover for the 280 companies is £25.8bn. The minimum company turnover included is £4m. The Blue Book is updated each month, with more companies added. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £895 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The regular single subscription rate of £395 plus VAT for operators and £495 plus VAT for suppliers remains the same. Premium subscribers also receive access to a second exclusive monthly database, The Propel Multi-Site Database. The updated database of multi-site companies for June included 63 new companies since its previous update in May – making a total of 1,880 listed businesses. Collectively, the 63 new companies operate 565 venues. Subscribers not only received the database as a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet, they were also sent a 10,389-word report on the businesses added during June. Subscribers also receive access to Propel’s library of lockdown videos and Friday Wrap interviews and now also have access to a curated video library of the sector’s finest leaders and entrepreneurs, offering their insights on running outstanding businesses in the sector. Premium subscribers also receive their morning newsletter 11 hours early, at 7pm the evening before our 6am send-out; regular video content and regular exclusive columns from Propel insights editor Mark Wingett. In this week’s Premium Opinion column, which will be sent to Premium subscribers at 5pm today (Friday, 16 July), Jon Midmer, founder and managing partner of global executive search firm JMA, looks at how businesses are now focusing on how prospective chief executives and managing directors have bounced back from failure when filling key roles. Meanwhile, Thomas Rose, co-founder of property advisory firm P-Three, asks whether the days for drive-thrus in local settings are numbered and Mark Wingett looks back at the week just gone, including Punch’s acquisition of Young’s tenanted estate, and looks ahead to “Freedom Day”. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to sign up.

Hospitality sector takes on 94,000 new staff as economic recovery gathers pace: Employers brought 356,000 people back to work between May and June, the largest monthly increase since the pandemic began, as the economy bounced back with the easing of lockdown. According to The Times, payroll data showed that 650,000 jobs had been created since March, before restrictions were relaxed. The numbers remain 206,000 below pre-coronavirus levels, however, with a total of 28.9 million on payrolls, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The hospitality sector, which had one of the steepest falls in employment during the lockdowns, took on 94,000 new staff between May and June. Economists said that the jobs market was “well on its way to recovery” after solid monthly data on employment, redundancies, vacancies and pay, raising hopes that employers will pick up the slack as the furlough scheme is withdrawn. Close to two million people remain on furlough. Since the start of this month employers have had to pay 10% of wages and the support will be fully removed at the end of September. Official data showed redundancy rates fell to 3.8 per thousand, in line with pre-pandemic levels for the first time, and job vacancies rose to 862,000 — 77,500 above pre-covid levels — as all but one sector experienced an increase in recruitment. Total weekly hours worked rose by 23.3 million to 981.4 million, the highest since the crisis but still 6.7% below pre-pandemic levels. Average weekly earnings grew 7.3%. After adjusting for furlough distortions, the ONS estimated underlying growth in pay at “between 3.2% and 4.4%”, meaning wages are growing in real terms after inflation. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “We are bouncing back. The number of employees on payrolls is at its highest level since last April and the number of people on furlough halved in the three months to May.”

Julia and Hans Rausing Trust donates £6m to The Clink: The largest donation to a prison charity will quadruple the number of offenders getting job training to help turn their lives around. The Clink Charity, which gives hospitality industry training to inmates, has been handed £6m by the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, reports the Daily Mail. The donation, part of a £12m programme, will mean the charity can increase the number of prisoners taking catering qualifications from 500 annually to 2,000 by the end of next year. There are currently 11 Clink Kitchen projects, and by the end of next year they are due to be operating at 70 prisons. The Clink chief executive Christopher Moore said the donations were a “game-changer” that will help cut reoffending dramatically. The charity’s schemes help reduce the number of victims of crime and provide trained staff for the hospitality industry, which currently has more than 280,000 vacancies. Moore said: “In 2019 we had 500 students and by the end of next year we should be able to increase that to 2,000, at a time when the hospitality industry is in real need of staff. It does an amazing job in reducing the chance of our students reoffending – in fact it reduces reoffending by more than 65%. To scale that up takes huge investment and the Rausings have generously put up half the funding. It’s a game-changer.” The charity already runs restaurants, staffed by prisoners, inside or near jails where the public can eat. The new initiative, Clink Kitchens, will place a specialist “chef trainer” in prison kitchens to help inmates who cook for fellow prisoners to gain City and Guilds National Vocational Qualifications, or NVQs. Offenders nearing the end of their sentences will also get help from support workers to draw up a CV, open a bank account and find somewhere to live, to make it easier to get a job. Julia and Hans Rausing said: “We are pleased to be able to support the Clink Charity as it rolls out its Clink Kitchens programme across so many more prisons. The charity has built a brilliant track record over the past 11 years providing people with new opportunities and qualifications that can genuinely turn their lives around and in turn reduce reoffending rates.”

Soho House shares fall on first day of trading: Shares in private members club Soho House dropped almost 10% to less than $13 in its US market debut after pricing at the lower end of its marketed range. Soho House parent company Membership Collective Group joined the New York Stock Exchange with a value of about $2.8bn (£2bn) in a listing that handed its members the chance to own part of the business. It had previously said it would be listing at between $14 and $16 a share, and earlier this week priced it at $14. Following an initial slump in shares, Soho House pared some losses through trading before dropping again to close down 9.6% to $12.66. Founder Nick Jones told The Telegraph the company had been surprised by the high level of demand among members to take part in the listing, with about a fifth subscribing for the maximum amount of 100 shares. Jones said: “They’ve stayed so loyal during the pandemic, and they’re really cheering from the sidelines at this stage of our lives.” Jones said on Thursday (15 July) that demand had ramped up significantly since lockdown restrictions began to ease earlier this year. He said: “We’re at Soho Farm House and the place is packed. You can’t get a cabin for a long time, but members have really come back to the Houses. They feel safe there, they know people there and they know we’re there to look after them.” The staycation boom had created “swings and roundabouts” for Soho House, Jones said, as it had global members who travelled to different houses. He added: “If there was no pandemic, Soho Farmhouse would still be full.” The company said its membership waiting list stood at about 48,000 applicants at the start of the year and has since grown to 59,000. Jones said the uptick in demand was largely from workers who wanted to use Soho House’s venues as an alternative to the office. He said: “We’re a home from home, we’ve got workspaces which feel like home. People want to live their lives differently now.”

McDonald’s rolling out reusable ‘rented’ coffee cups: McDonald’s is rolling out reusable “rented” coffee cups that customers return after drinking – saving them 20p and helping the environment. The Sun reported Northamptonshire is the centre of the ground-breaking trial that is set to be rolled out globally at McDonald’s and potentially rival chains. It will help reduce the 2.5 billion single-use coffee cups that go to landfill in the UK each year – and the hundreds of billions globally. McDonald’s said the new system gets around the problems with normal reusable cups – such as customers forgetting them or not wanting to carry dirty ones around. Stephen Clarke, from partner Loop, which provides and washes the cups, said: “This way you are renting a cup rather than carrying a reusable cup around all day. It is all about convenience.” As well as doing their bit to cut down on waste, customers get 20p off each medium coffee, tea or hot chocolate – making them 79p for a standard white coffee or tea, or £1.29 for a latte. Customers do pay a £1 deposit – but they get it back, either in cash or as a credit on an app, when they return the cup. They can return it at the restaurant right after drinking, on their next visit or other soon-to-be rolled out drop off points provided by Loop in Tesco. If a customer forgets their cup at their next visit they can pay another £1 deposit and return both cups next time. The cups are made of special plastic – engineered polypropylene – with recycled paper cup material inside for insulation. Eventually, the idea is that washing centres will replace recycling plants and other forms of waste management as more and more restaurants and shops embrace reusable packaging. Down the line, the coffee cup scheme will be included in the MyMcDonald’s app, but for now customers order in shops or via drive-thru. The trial is at six McDonald’s – four in Northampton and two in nearby Wellingborough. They have been picked as they are close to the Loop cleaning centre. The hope is to roll it out to all 1,300 restaurants in the UK and eventually the 36,000 globally.

Oakman Group to continue table-only service after restrictions lift: The Oakman Group is to continue table-only service after restrictions lift on Monday (19 July). The 35-strong group said with the priority being the health and safety of their staff and customers, staff will still take and deliver every table’s order. Oakman, which provided the cabinet office with advice on pub biosecurity, will retain all its existing covid measures including screens between tables, hand sanitiser stations and high-intensity and regular cleaning regimes. Facemasks will not be insisted upon, but Oakman said it expects customers “to respect each other’s space”. Chief executive Dermot King said: “Our pubs are large and with screens between tables, and our continental-style table service, our customers can be assured that they are in safe hands. Our signature cooking method has been based on a combination of charcoal and wood-burning ovens. Our extraction systems and airflows are therefore so much more robust than the majority of other restaurants – however big they may be.” Managing director Alex Ford added: “Our continental-style table service throughout our pubs is a quicker and more relaxed method of being served. We ask that our customers respect others, including our team, and give everyone some space. Other than that – very little has changed.”

Chapel Down completes £6.876m fundraise to capitalise on English wine interest: English wine maker Chapel Down has completed its £6.876m fundraise to capitalise on English wine interest. The company stated: “The £6.876m was secured in just 33 days with more than 4,000 investors subscribing for a total of 11,555,972 new ordinary shares of £0.05p each in the company at a price of 59.5 pence per ordinary share. The fundraising consisted of a placing of 2,395,792 new ordinary shares at the issue price to raise gross proceeds of £1.426m from directors of the company and IPGL, the family office of Michael Spencer, a substantial shareholder in the company; and an equity crowdfunding on Seedrs of 9,160,180 new ordinary shares at the issue price to raise £5.450m.” Chief executive Frazer Thompson said: “We are thrilled to have hit the maximum fundraising target so quickly. We are truly humbled that so many more investors have decided to join us on our journey to change the way the world thinks about English wine forever. More people than ever are aware of the extraordinary potential of English wines. Twenty years ago people thought we were mad. No longer!”