Notable positive shift in operators now trading as normal, but staff recruitment and supply issues significant challenges: There has been a notable positive shift in those operators who have returned to a normalised level of trading, but staff recruitment and supply issues are proving significant challenges, according to the latest hospitality snapshot survey by sector specialist accountancy firm Haysmacintyre. The survey found 46% of respondents were now trading as normal, compared with 13% in July. A similar note of optimism saw only 8% of respondents noting they see the return to normalised trading in 2023 or beyond, compared with 11% in July, with the remainder of respondents citing 2022 as the year in which trading is likely to return to normal. Hoteliers have shown the most positive shift in estimated normalised trading, with 49% of respondents indicating they are already trading as normal, compared with just 9% in July. Across pubs/bars and restaurants, just under half of operators (48%) noted a return to normalised trading, compared with 15% in July. The remaining respondents all consider trade will return to normalised levels over the course of 2022. In July, 9% of respondents considered normalised trade would return during 2023 or beyond. More than half (56%) of all respondents believe staff recruitment challenges and increasing wage costs will have the most significant lasting impact of the pandemic on the sector. Further impact areas highlighted were the increase in debt taken on by operators in order to survive (13%) and whether on-site demand will be impacted by flexible working practices (13%). Recruitment was also the most significant current challenge, with 61% of respondents highlighting this as their biggest challenge versus 57% from the July survey. Supply issues and costs were noted as the second most challenging area, with 14% of operators highlighting this as a significant challenge, versus just 2% in July. Encouragingly, a lack of demand was previously highlighted by 11% of respondents within the July survey, which has decreased to just 4%. The overall mood from operators mirrors that from the last survey in July, with 71% of operators either “confident” or “very confident” (70% in July), and only 7% expressing a lack of confidence.

Sponsored message – Generator invests in its people with Harri’s help: Boutique accommodation provider Generator is investing in its people – with the help of workforce management tech firm Harri – to help it create a world-class employee experience. The partnership will see Generator, which has properties in 15 locations in Europe and America, utilise Harri’s end-to-end platform, from talent acquisition to workforce management. As well as benefiting managers and team members, Harri’s tech solutions will also enable Generator & Freehand Hotels to offer a best-in-class experience for prospective candidates. They will benefit from using Harri’s human-like AI hiring assistant Carri, managing the entire application and candidate communications via web-based chat on Generator’s careers page and social media. Generator chief executive Alastair Thomann said: “We are excited to collaborate with Harri as our HR systems partner, allowing the teams to make quicker hiring decisions, which is key in the current climate.” Freehand chief operating officer Andre Guettouche added: “Harri will enable our management teams to create payroll efficiencies through their workforce management system.” Harri operations director Andrew MacDonald said: “It’s evident from attending its recent management conference in Dubai, just how much the team ethos is cherished at Generator, and Harri is delighted to partner with this great team.” To find out more about how Harri transforms the employee experience, click here. If you have a sponsored story you would like to see featured in this newsletter position, email paul.charity@propelinfo.com

Propel Premium Advent Video Calendar to feature Carol Welch: Propel has launched its Premium Advent Video Calendar, giving subscribers access to a great video each day in December from our autumn conference series. Each day in December in the run-up to Christmas, Premium subscribers will be sent a video featuring some of the sector’s leading operators, who will share insights, advice and expertise. The next video – which will be sent at 9am today (Tuesday 7 December) – features Carol Welch, managing director UK & Ireland and commercial officer Odeon Cinema Group (Europe) and non-executive director of Hammerson, who discusses her career in retail and coffee before joining Odeon as managing director in 2017, her learnings along the way and her plans for the Odeon brand over the next five years. Premium subscribers received the fifth edition of The New Openings Database, which is produced in association with StarStock, on Friday (3 December). The database showed the details of 366 newly announced site openings and upcoming launches. Premium subscribers also receive access to two other databases – the Propel Multi-Site Database, which is produced in association with Virgate, and the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is produced in association with Mapal Group. 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 group editor Mark Wingett. 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. To subscribe, email jo.charity@propelinfo.com

Deliveroo joins calls for permanent 12.5% VAT rate for hospitality as one in five restaurants on platform forced to shut early: Deliveroo has joined the industry calls for a permanent 12.5% VAT rate for hospitality, with one in five restaurants on the platform forced to close during business hours over the past three months because of supply chain and staffing issues. Of the restaurants polled by Deliveroo, 54% have had to remove items from their menus due to lack of availability, while almost half have had to increase prices. For core ingredients, 89% of partner restaurants have seen wholesale costs increase, and the majority (55%) agree managing their supply chain has become more difficult over the past six months. Almost two thirds of partner restaurants report being understaffed, with 30% of respondents saying they have fewer staff than six months ago. The overwhelming majority (79%) have described recruiting more staff over the past three months as “challenging”. As a result of staff shortages, 18% of partners have had to shut their business when they’d otherwise be open, while two in five have been forced to reject bookings or limit opening hours. Restaurants are also having to increase salaries across a range of jobs to attract staff, with 90% raising the wage levels of chefs. Carlo Mocci, chief business officer UK & Ireland, Deliveroo, said: “While the economy has opened up and restaurants can welcome back dine-in guests, they’re facing the twin pressures of rising prices and staff shortages. Making the VAT cut permanent for hospitality will go a long way in easing the financial burden, protecting jobs and livelihoods.” UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls added: “With fragile consumer confidence further damaged by the impact of the new Omicron variant at the start of what should have been a key trading period for the sector, on top of ever-rising costs, chronic staff shortages and ongoing supply chain issues, the government needs to act to support hospitality businesses. The best option for the government would be to retain the 12.5% VAT rate for hospitality and tourism to allow businesses to invest in staff and skills and keep trading back to prosperity, helping the wider national recovery and keeping prices affordable for consumers.”

Job of the day: COREcruitment is working with a hotel client that is expanding rapidly. As part of this expansion, the company is looking to hire a head of central operations to strengthen its London team. A COREcruitment spokesman said: “You will be responsible for brand agnostic central support and management, covering all new hotel openings, and operational properties. You will be accountable for performance data analysis, diagnosis and subsequent solution creation including communication, process change and training recommendations. Operational third-party relationships (including contract housekeeping) and brand activation bespoke to each product brand will also fall within the role’s remit. The client is offering a salary of £120,000 per annum plus bonus and benefits.” For more information and to apply for this role, email Lara@corecruitment.com

 

Chatterton – Fuller’s could sell tenanted estate and bid for City Pub Group: Alex Chatterton, sector analyst at Panmure Gordon, says Fuller’s has a good opportunity to participate in M&A and could use the funds achieved by selling its tenanted estate to acquire City Pub Group. Chatterton believes Fuller’s can raise “significant funds”, which he estimates as greater than £150m, by disposing of its tenanted inns division. He said: “Then, in line with its acquisition strategy, i.e., managed freehold pubs, Fuller’s could use these funds to acquire City Pub Group. While historically we have been bearish on City Pub Group, the recent share price weakness (down circa 32% since the end of February) and improving freehold mix – up to 65% from 58% at initial public offering (IPO) – has made it a somewhat more attractive option to a potential acquirer in our view. Assuming a conservative discount to an average of the most applicable recent transactions, the tenanted inns division could generate an enterprise value around £156m, based on an EV/Ebitda multiple of circa ten times. Given the recent share price weakness, with City Pub Group’s share price now below the IPO price, it has become more attractive to a potential acquirer. Assuming a 30% premium to the current share price, City Pub Group’s enterprise value would be circa £144m. We therefore conclude that Fuller’s could acquire City Pub Group if it were to sell its tenanted inns divisions without having to increase its borrowings or raise equity.” Chatterton said he believed there are two key reasons why Fuller’s would want to acquire City Pub Group – also being a premium wet-led operator, and its improving freehold exposure. In terms of other potential interested parties, Chatterton believes Young’s might be put off by City Pub Group’s diverse geographical exposure given 82% of Young’s estate is within the M25, while the Rooney Anand-backed RedCat Pub Company has been focused on acquiring smaller pub groups. Chatterton said: “A real estate investor could be interested, with CK Asset Holdings’ acquisition of Greene King showing the potential interest of such investors in the UK pub sector. A private equity firm may be interested given the recent share price weakness and low valuation, perhaps with a view to using City Pub Group as a roll-up vehicle.”

Hilder – we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response to Wendy’s in the UK: Paul Hilder, senior vice-president and managing director of Wendy’s UK and Canada, has said the US brand has been “overwhelmed by the positive response from the British public” to its return to the country. Hilder was speaking ahead of the opening of the brand’s fifth restaurant in the UK, in Romford, on Wednesday (8 December). The third-largest quick service restaurant chain in the US, which made its return to the UK with an opening in Reading earlier this summer, will open at 64 South Street in Romford. It will take the brand to ten sites in the UK after restaurant openings in Oxford, London Stratford and Croydon, plus delivery kitchen sites in partnership with Reef in Kentish Town, Blackwall, Hornsey, Southwark and Twickenham. Hilder said: “We’re excited to be rounding out the year with the opening of our Romford restaurant, our fifth company-owned and operated restaurant in the UK. We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from the British public, and we can’t wait to bring Wendy’s high quality, delicious food to more burger lovers across the country in 2022.” Last month, Wendy’s said it would up its expansion plans in the UK after a strong start to its return here. Abigail Pringle, Wendy’s chief development officer, said revenues at the restaurants it had opened were “far more” than the chain had expected, at £40,000 a week. As a result, Wendy’s now has a target of opening 50 locations next year, which will be a mixture of dark kitchens, dine-in restaurants and drive-thrus. The company, which last month secured its first UK drive-thru site in Colchester, has also secured a site in Brighton’s Western Road. It is thought the business is in talks to open further restaurants in Camden, Ilford, Watford and Maidstone, with Savills aiding the brand’s UK expansion.

The Coconut Tree acquires Birmingham site for eighth restaurant: Sri Lankan street food operator The Coconut Tree has acquired its eighth site, in Birmingham. The 1,600-square-foot two-storey bar and restaurant will be based in a listed building at 22 Gas Street and is on track to open in early 2022. The expansion sees The Coconut Tree continue its organic growth and follows hot on the heels of its Reading and Bath openings in 2021. The site will join other branches in Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford, Cheltenham and Bournemouth. Brand director Anna Garrod said: “We can’t wait to bring a little piece of Sri Lankan hospitality and our warm island vibes to Gas Street, the heart of Birmingham's entertainment and leisure district. We’ve had our eyes on the city for a really long time and couldn’t be more excited to take on this beautiful building.” In October, Garrod told the Propel Multi-Club Conference that The Coconut Tree was planning four new openings in the next 12 months. The Coconut Tree was originally founded by five Sri Lankan friends living in Cheltenham. Praveen Thanginah, Dan Fernando and Shamil Fernando are the head chefs and oversee the food side of things, while the board of directors is made up of financial director Mithra Fernando, operations director Rodrigo Rashinthe and Garrod.

Boparan Restaurant Group now carbon neutral across all ten brands: Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), the owner and operator of brands including Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Giraffe, Ed’s Easy Diner, Rebel Vegan and Slim Chickens, has been certified as a completely carbon neutral business. All ten brands within the group, which also include Carluccio’s, Caffè Carluccio’s, The Cinnamon Collection, FishWorks and the umbrella BRG brand, have been using green energy from renewable sources since 2019 and offsetting all their direct emissions. In addition, BRG has been helping fund renewable energy, woodland preservation and tree planting projects around the world. Brand-specific initiatives – such as the Carluccio’s partnership with The Rainforest Alliance that sees every coffee bought preserving a section of rainforest – will continue alongside wider group ones. BRG chief executive Satnam Leihal said: “Group-wide carbon neutrality certification is a proud moment for us, but there is still a lot of work to be done. This is an early step in our sustainability journey, and our ultimate aim is to achieve true net zero across all our brands. Offsetting is not a complete solution, but understanding our carbon use and supporting so many brilliant projects worldwide does negate the direct emissions created by our business today. As one of the UK’s largest hospitality groups, we have a responsibility to set an example and demonstrate we are taking our commitment to the planet seriously.”

Gusto opens ‘new look’ site in Nottingham, eyes Oxford opening: Premium casual dining group Gusto Italian has opened its “new-look” restaurant and bar in Nottingham. As revealed by Propel in June, the Matt Snell-led brand has launched the site – its 13th in total – in the city’s King Street in the premises previously occupied by The Restaurant Group-owned Frankie & Benny’s. The venue is an evolution of the Gusto brand with “immersive pizza experience, open kitchen and a cocktail, coffee and cannoli bar”. The venue also offers a new brunch menu, including bottomless brunch. Following this site, Gusto said it was looking to build a pipeline of openings to drive future growth. Speaking at the recent Propel Multi-Club Conference, Snell said the business was in legals on a site in Oxford. He said: “Our plan is to open four or five restaurants over the next two to three years. It will be a very detailed and careful analysis on where we go and what we do.” The Palatine Private Equity-backed group currently operates in locations such as Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

Wapping set for seafood restaurant, fishmonger and fish ‘n’ chips takeaway concept: Chef Neil Wagner will, in the new year, open a seafood restaurant that also operates as a fishmonger and fish ‘n’ chips takeaway outlet. Wagner, who has worked in restaurants around the globe, has teamed up with Shaun Henderson, of sustainable fish suppliers Henderson’s, for the concept, which will be called Off The Hook. Due to open in Gauging Square, in Wapping, east London, on Tuesday, 4 January, its offerings will include dry-aged monkfish with kimchi and fennel and halibut with wild chantarelles, crown prince squash and cider stock. Among the drinks menu will be sea-themed cocktails with coastal ingredients, such as the oyster shot with Cornish squid ink gin, which is served from a Maldon rock oyster. In the takeaway section, dishes such as battered hake and chips, lobster roll and crab mac ‘n’ cheese will be wrapped in a sustainably sourced seaweed clear wrap.

Bubble CiTea to open Bristol site: Bubble tea brand Bubble CiTea is opening a site in Bristol. The company is opening the outlet at The Mall at Cribbs Causeway shopping centre. Bubble CiTea, which sells fresh fruit and milk tea and crushed ice drinks, is launching the 533 square-foot venue in the former IQOS unit before Christmas, reports Business Live. Founded in 2012, Bubble CiTea operates 26 sites across the UK. Time Retail Partners and Cushman & Wakefield are letting agents for The Mall, which is jointly owned by Intu, M&G Real Estate and JT Baylis.

Former doctor turned multiple pub operator completes £150,000 upgrades of two sites with Greene King: Former doctor Josh Khan has partnered with Greene King Pub Partners to invest £150,000 into refurbishing two Home Counties pubs. The King Charles Tavern in Newbury, Berkshire, which Khan took on with Greene King in 2014, has benefited from a £50,000 cash injection, while the Broad Face Tavern in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, which Khan took on two years later, has also undergone a £100,000 upgrade. Khan, who hails from Siberia, first worked as a banker when he came to the UK 20 years ago before taking his first steps in hospitality by running a restaurant under the mentorship of acclaimed French chef Ollie Couillard. He said: “With the investments at both sites completed, we’ve been able to really establish their reputations as quality pubs.” The Greene King Pub Partners division operates more than 1,000 leased, tenanted and franchise pubs across the UK with independent business partners. Khan also operates the Great Shefford pub in the Berkshire village of the same name, which reopened in September following a £1m refurbishment. He added: “My business model is that I want to make everyone my business partners. We pay a very acceptable amount of money to staff, even our younger people, who are paid above minimum wage, and, as a result, we have people who have been with us for more than five years. We want them to grow their careers with us, not just have jobs.”

Apartment Group invests in fleet of vehicles to overcome supply chain struggles: North east-based leisure operator The Apartment Group has invested in a fleet of vehicles to overcome supply chain struggles. Operations director Debrah Dhugga said the company had made the move to make sure deliveries could be made around the company’s venues, which have recently seen the opening of ChachaBuchi, La Fee, Verano and Howlers in Collingwood Street, Newcastle, to replace former sites Floritas, Madame Koo and House of Smith. Dhugga told Business Live: “I can’t tell you how hard it’s been. Even getting your beer delivered. It’s crazy – they’ve got no drivers. For a site like ChachaBuchi, you need deliveries every day, for the volumes. In all 30 years of working in hospitality I’ve never known it to be like this. And prices have rocketed, simply because of supply and demand.” Originally, five different venues were due to replace the Collingwood Street bars, mixing street food, cocktail parlours, a subterranean play zone with a bowling alley, virtual reality zones and karaoke booths. The company altered its plans in February, upping investing from £2m to £3m to come up with the new names and themes and adding a strong focus on daytime food. Dhugga said the new venues have all drawn in the crowds since reopening, but recruitment remains a major issue. Meanwhile, the group, which also owns boutique hotels The Joiners Arms and Le Petit Chateau in Northumberland, is poised to start work on creating two new luxury hotels in County Durham. The company acquired Whitworth Hall Hotel & Deer Park and Jersey Farm Country Hotel shortly before the pandemic started, and both properties have remained closed until now.

The Fragrance Group acquires The Aloft Liverpool hotel off £12m guide price: Singapore-based The Fragrance Group has bought The Aloft Liverpool hotel for an undisclosed price. The company has acquired the property following an invitation for offers at a guide level in the region of £12m. The four-star 116-bedroom hotel, which also has two substantial bar and restaurants together with several meeting/conference suites, was being sold by joint agents Colliers and CBRE, on behalf of North John Street LLP. Trade to year-end 2019 showed a net turnover of £3.9m, and the hotel was operated under the Aloft franchise (part of Marriott Group). The hotel will continue to be operated by RBH Hospitality Management. Martin Rogers, of Global Hotels & Leisure Consultancy, which represents The Fragrance Group, said: “This was another strategic acquisition for The Fragrance Group in the UK. Koh Wee Meng [group founder] first visited Liverpool in 2018 and subsequently purchased The Municipal Building, which we are now converting into a luxury 186-bedroom hotel due to open in October next year. We are delighted to again work alongside RBH Hospitality Management, which already operates six hotels in the UK for the group.”

Zonal boosts leadership team with COO appointment: Hospitality technology company Zonal has further boosted its leadership team with the appointment of Mat Easterbrook as chief operating officer. Easterbrook brings with him extensive experience, spanning more than 26 years in both operations and customer success in the technology sector, holding previous senior positions at i-nexus, Prosperity Financial Services and DRS Data Services. He will assume responsibility for Zonal’s help centre, engineering, projects, training and implementation functions as well as the company’s Livingston manufacturing facility. Easterbrook’s appointment completes the company’s newly strengthened executive team. Zonal recently appointed Olivia FitzGerald as chief sales and marketing officer, while James Taylor joined as chief financial officer earlier this year. Zonal chief executive Stuart McLean said: “I’m excited to see the newly-strengthened team working together to deliver on our ambitions and continue to support hospitality businesses as they look to bounce back after the challenges of the past 18 months.”

Five Guys opens at former GBK site in Basingstoke: Better burger brand Five Guys has opened its latest UK restaurant at the former Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) site in Basingstoke’s Festival Place. The 3,200 square-foot restaurant joins 11 existing restaurants operating in the centre’s main casual dining zone, Festival Square. US-based Five Guys secured the former GBK sites in both Basingstoke and Walton-on-Thames in September, the latter having since opened, as it aims for 25 new UK openings each year. The circa 130-strong brand recently launched in Northampton, Orpington, St Albans, Castleford and Trafford Retail Park and is also due to open in Manchester Piccadilly this month. Festival Place, which was acquired by AEW in 2015, has taken a strategic decision to grow its grab-and-go casual dining offer, with operators including sushi and bento brand Kokoro and independent Asian street food operator Chi. Russell Jewell, head of private equity funds at AEW, said: “The opening of Five Guys at Festival Place is a great endorsement for the transformation that has taken place at the centre under AEW’s leadership. The fact Five Guys has signed a lease with us means operators are buying in to our vision and believe in Festival Place as a destination.” Lunson Mitchenall and Cushman & Wakefield are joint agents for Festival Place, while CBRE is the managing agent for the centre. 

London luxury hotel project secures £34.3m loan: The team behind a scheme to convert office space at 15 Old Bailey in London into a luxury hotel has been provided with a £34.3m loan to fund the build. Tech entrepreneur Alex Shamash and joint venture partner Boscalt Hospitality, a member of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity partnerships, secured the capital from OakNorth Bank having gained planning permission in the summer. They plan to restore the Victorian property to its former use, having originally been built as the Holborn Viaduct Hotel in 1874 for Spiers & Pond, the world’s first large-scale catering business. The hotel was the first in London to have electric lighting but was converted to office space in the 1900s, which it has remained as since. The new hotel will have around 110 bedrooms, a speakeasy restaurant and bar and a gym. Liza Masías, chief operating officer for Boscalt Hospitality, said: “We’re excited to bring this new hotel concept to market while preserving the building’s unique legacy and 19th century features. The hotel integrates the best market standards of sustainably and will feature a speakeasy bar and Levantine open kitchen restaurant concept.”

Edinburgh delivery-only pizzeria concept to open first restaurant: Matto Pizza, which launched in September 2020 as a delivery kitchen at Edinburgh’s Cadzow Place, will make its restaurant debut later this month, also in the Scottish capital. Matto’s new site will be in the south side of the city, at 370-372 Morningside Road, opening in mid-December. It currently delivers around 600 pizzas a night from its city centre base, but the new 42-seater venue will be the brand’s first dedicated diner. Using a state-of-the-art wood-fired oven that cooks pizzas in 60 seconds, the menu will include the popular truffle-base pizza with smoked cheese, mushrooms and rocket, plus new additions like a pea purée-base pizza with smoked speck, gorgonzola, mozzarella, figs, rocket and balsamic glaze. Co-founder Nel Parvanova said: “When we launched Matto, our vision was to create authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas that were a little different, but with absolutely no compromise on the quality of the ingredients. It has been a labour of love from day one, and to expand so quickly, we feel incredibly lucky. It would not have been possible without the support of our loyal customers. We hope to welcome old and new customers to the restaurant, so we can showcase Matto’s creativity and hospitality.”

Former M&B and Greene King general manager takes on historic East Suffolk pub for second site: Norwich-based operator Burwood Inns will reopen the historic The Blue Boar pub in Lowestoft on Wednesday (8 December) after taking on the leasehold and spending £150,000 on refurbishments. There will be a new kitchen and bar area and three different dining areas, serving “great value homemade food”. The pub, which dates to the 1600s, was formerly run as an independent and has been closed for several years, but will now be given a rebirth as a pub and restaurant. New owner Burwood Inns was founded by former Mitchells & Butlers and Greene King general manager Gemma Burwood four years ago and also operates The Chestnut Tree pub and restaurant in Norwich. The company also ran the Oak Tree in the same city, which has now been taken on by Stonegate Group under its Classic Inns brand. “I saw this venue had been put up for sale in July,” Burwood told the Lowestoft Journal. “Being originally from Lowestoft, I know the history and traditions of this pub and restaurant, despite not being in the town for 20 years. I was interested when it previously went up for sale, but felt I was not quite ready. Now, Burwood Inns are opening this fantastic venue again, and it has been really busy with inquiries and bookings made already.”