Kwarteng considers blanket discount on business energy bills, gas prices forecast to more than halve by next spring: A blanket discount on business energy bills is being considered by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng ahead of this week’s mini-Budget. The Telegraph reports officials are examining a potential scheme in which companies will get a fixed reduction to the rate they currently pay per kilowatt hour on their bills. It is a different mechanism to the one used for households, where the maximum that energy companies can charge is capped instead. A Whitehall source said a discount would be the simplest and most effective way of delivering support, but cautioned it is just one of several options being looked at by ministers. Kwarteng is preparing to set out a detailed plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis in a fiscal statement on Friday, with help for households and companies expected to be accompanied by a raft of tax cuts. Prime minister Liz Truss last week announced a two-year cap on energy bills for households but only six months for businesses. However, the government is still working out how to deliver this. Under the support scheme for households, consumers will pay a maximum 34p per kilowatt hour for electricity and 10.3p for gas, with the difference covered by a taxpayer subsidy for the energy companies. However, a similar package for businesses is far more difficult to draw up because they have individual arrangements with energy suppliers, in which the price they pay can vary widely depending on their contract. The proposal being considered would not cap these charges but offers a discount of a set number of pence per kilowatt hour from what the company presently pays. Meanwhile, new forecasts by investment bank Goldman Sachs predict the price of gas – which soared in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine – was likely to more than halve to €100 (£88) per megawatt-hour by next spring. Goldman said efforts by European countries to wean themselves off Russian gas and increase their own supplies were likely to prove effective. And Gerard Lyons, chief economic strategist at online wealth manager NetWealth, said while it is hard to be precise about the exact cost, this appears realistic as gas prices have fallen sharply. “It has become clear that European countries, including the UK, are taking action to address their energy supply needs,” he told The Mail on Sunday.

 

Burgerism co-founder Mark Murphy to speak at final Propel Multi-Club Conference of 2022, three free places per company for operators: Burgerism co-founder Mark Murphy will be among the speakers at the final Propel Multi-Club Conference of 2022, which takes place on Thursday, 10 November, at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London, and is open for bookings. The all-day conference will focus on “new ways of working”. Murphy will set out how the fast-growing smash burger concept plans to open a further 30 sites across the UK over the next three to four years and become the “Domino’s for burgers”. Operators can book up to three free places per company by emailing jo.charity@propelinfo.com.

Fourth UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database to feature 15 new companies, released on Friday: The fourth UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, which will be sent to Premium subscribers on Friday (23 September) at midday, will feature 155 companies and almost 70,000 words of content, providing insight on the offer, locations, cost and other key details of companies offering a food and beverage franchise in the UK. Several hot and cold drink concepts are among the 15 new franchisors featured in the fourth edition. Among them is Greek coffee shop chain Coffee Island, which has a global presence of more than 500 stores and launched in the UK in 2016. Also featured is Tea & The Gang, which made it bricks and mortar debut, in Kings Lynn, in July, and is looking to open more cafe-restaurants and retail shops, or both under one roof. Gong Cha, which has grown to more than 1,800 locations after being founded in Taiwan in 2006, and which made its UK debut in 2019, is also featured. Premium subscribers also receive access to The New Openings Database; the Propel Multi-Site Database, produced in association with Virgate; and the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, produced in association with Mapal Group. 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 single subscription rate is £445 plus VAT for operators and £545 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription. Subscribers also receive access to Propel’s library of lockdown videos and Friday Wrap interviews and 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. They 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.

Train drivers set to stage more strikes in October: Drivers at 12 train companies are expected to strike on 1 and 5 October. A strike had been planned for 15 September but was postponed following the announcement of the Queen’s passing. Aslef will not be making any public statements on further strike action until today (Tuesday, 20 September) out of respect for the Queen’s funeral. But the managing director of rail operator LNER, David Horne, tweeted that the trade union had notified it of strike action on the two dates next month. Sector businesses, particularly those in city centres, have already been hit hard a series of large-scale rail strikes in recent months. The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) warned in July that further rail strikes would be “catastrophic” for companies which suffered up to a 40% drop in trade during previous walkouts. The same month, Pret A Manger chief executive Pano Christou said sales at its outlets in the City and Canary Wharf fell to 62% of pre-covid levels in the week of strikes at the end of June. And Clive Watson, executive chairman of City Pub Group, said he saw as much as a 25% plunge in sales during June’s rail strikes, and that it was “barely worth opening” some sites near train stations during industrial action.

Miers – calorie labelling a ‘red herring’: Thomasina Miers, co-founder of Mexican restaurant brand Wahaca, has said calorie labelling is a “red herring”, and her company’s carbon-rated menus are a way of “pushing back”. New calorie labelling rules came into force into April for restaurants and takeaways as part of a government drive to tackle obesity and improve the nation’s health. At the same time, Wahaca added carbon ratings to its menus, so customers could better understand the climate impact of their food and make more sustainable choices. “For me, a calorie is such a red herring,” said Miers in a keynote speech about sustainability within the sector at Casual Dining 2022. “Calories aren’t a bad thing – you wake up in the morning and you need calories for energy. Calories are vilified, but they are a good thing. Eating should be about pleasure and enjoyment and trying to eat better things, and not farming out our diets to companies that want us to spend our money on rubbish. The carbon measuring on our menus was a way of pushing back at calorie measuring, but also because we’ve been on that carbon journey for several years now, and so we had that data at our fingertips. I think it’s a nicer way for people to plan what they’re eating and measure what they’re consuming.” Studies have shown consumers, particularly younger generations, are increasingly concerned with the carbon footprint of what they are eating and drinking when dining out – and Miers believes that should extend to the supply chain too. “Research shows people expect places where they eat out to have thought about sustainability, so we feel like it’s no longer an optional luxury.” she added. “We also have tremendous soft power to be asking questions of our suppliers about how they are tackling sustainability.”

Selby – Hospitality Rising will be a continual requirement for the coming years and not just a one-off: Mark Selby, co-founder of Mexican restaurant group Wahaca, has argued industry campaign Hospitality Rising will be a continual requirement for the coming years and not just a one-off. Formed last year to help change the perception of working in the industry, Hospitality Rising will later this month launch a large-scale recruitment campaign. Selby, who was speaking at Casual Dining 2022 in support of the campaign alongside Hospitality Rising founder Mark McCulloch and interim chairman David Campbell, said: “The more money it raises, the more it can get the message out there of what you can get out of hospitality. But I’m imaging this isn’t just going to be a one-off. It will be a continual requirement over the coming years. It seems like a sensible place to put time and funding as we have to fundamentally change these things. There is a shortage, but it’s an unnecessary shortage if people understand what hospitality has to offer.” For McCulloch, it’s about making hospitality a “top five career choice” for people choosing their pathway, and then offering enough to keep them in it. “We commissioned some research very early on that found only one in five people would consider a role in hospitality, and only two in five would recommend it to someone else,” he said. “The measure for us is changing that one in five to 1.5 or 2.5 and keep it going up. But the worst thing we can do is bring hundreds or thousands of new people into the industry and then let them bounce out of it. If ten people apply for a job at Pret and one person is chosen, make sure we don’t waste the nine and get them back in.” As it stands, the campaign has raised more than £800,000, and McCulloch is hopeful of getting the figure to in excess of £1m by the time the campaign launches. Campbell added: “I want to see an industry that helps itself and isn’t dependent on other people. We’ve got trade associations that did a great job during the pandemic in getting the government to help, and hopefully the government will put more help into things like energy, but staffing is about us as an industry getting the messaging out. Once you get inside the door you hear those stories, but you have to get people inside the door first, and then keep them there.”

Greene King commercial chief – it’s almost impossible to pre-plan for Christmas and the World Cup together: Greene King commercial and marketing director Andrew Gallagher has argued it’s almost impossible to pre-plan for an “unprecedented winter” of both Christmas and the World Cup. FIFA’s flagship football tournament will this year be taken out of its traditional summer slot for the first time, as host country Qatar would be too hot to host July matches. “Nobody can tell what will happen in November and December,” Gallagher told Casual Dining 2022. “Having Christmas and a World Cup together is unprecedented, and it will also never happen again, so any data we gain will be useless! How do you do both at the same time? We will have to plan live really. The best we can do is plan for Christmas in October, switch to the World Cup, and then switch back to Christmas once England, or Wales, are out. There’s also the question of how to use outside space during the World Cup. In a July World Cup, everyone is out in the beer garden, but it’s going to be cold and probably raining. When it comes to the World Cup, you also have to consider all the people that might be coming to your website to make a booking and can’t. We’re turning all those customers away, so the reality is you have to meet in the middle. It’s not about excluding anybody, it’s about smart utilisation.” Gallagher also agreed with Heineken UK’s category and commercial strategy director, Charlie Fryday, who last month told Propel the cost-of-living crisis doesn’t necessarily mean the end of premiumisation. “There was a premiumisation trend coming out of covid, with people treating themselves to a nicer drink when they went out, and we’ve all been waiting for it to dissipate, but it’s stayed,” Gallagher added. “Peoples’ attitude is when you go out, you want to enjoy it. The data suggests in January and February, people will maybe go out less but spend more. People will still buy premium, but frequency will dissipate.”

Job of the day: COREcruitment is working with a well-established, international hospitality group with a diverse portfolio of brands that is looking for a commercial director. A COREcruitment spokesman said: “They will help expand the offer, increase customer base, drive conversion, and deliver future growth plans. The commercial director will be directly accountable for driving the top-line budget and forecast by implementing a commercial strategy and business plan through to execution using the company’s commercial focus process and all available business tools and intelligence available. They will deliver as a minimum the budgeted revenues across all revenue streams, to include – but not limited to – all rooms, groups, conference and events, food and beverage, leisure and spa, with a control on cost of sale, route to market, channel shift and marketing/e-commerce opportunities. The business is looking for an entrepreneurial and creative individual who is commercially astute and a natural leader with proven results in strategic growth and development.” The salary is up to £125,000 and the position is based in London. For more information, email lara@corecruitment.com

 

Fleet – we’re ready to move Caravan outside London ‘very soon’: Jo Fleet, managing director of Caravan, has said the restaurant, bar and coffee-roasting concept is ready to make the move out of London “very soon”. Propel reported in April the seven-strong company was exploring a number of new sites both inside and outside of the capital. Fleet, who joined Caravan earlier this year after spells with Wahaca, Flat Iron and Hawksmoor, said expanding to the regions is now not far off. “We’re looking to move out of London pretty soon,” she told Casual Dining 2022. “I can’t say where and when yet, but it’s happening. I think understanding how to move to your first site outside London – and second, third, fourth – because I’ve done it before, it’s about planning. I think it needs to be done, and that’s part of the reason I joined. We just have to be careful because of the current climate more than anything else. When we’re looking for sites, we can be quite flexible, plus it’s all-day trading, and we trade really well throughout the day and into the evening.” Fleet also said companies must be more creative in finding ways to retain employees. “Staffing goes in waves, and we need to approach it differently as staff are absolutely key to having a brilliant company,” she said. “We’re coming into a culture whereby the biggest thing you’ve got to do is look after your staff. The work-life balance is crucial and something we should have looked at ages ago. Everyone wants more money of course, and it’s a fine balance as to what we can afford, but it’s more about the benefits and the perks. It’s about flexibility and listening to the team, as they have brilliant ideas.” Another ongoing project at Caravan is coffee subscriptions, and Fleet believes her experience in launching the Hawksmoor at Home kits during the pandemic will be beneficial. “The coffee side is definitely growing, and in terms of subscription, wholesale and online purchasing, that’s going to be a big project over the next six months,” she added. “The omnichannel approach was borne out of necessity, and it was interesting how much people wanted it. It’s all about linking the restaurants with the coffee offer, but also looking at our website and ease of purchase. When we did 

Hawksmoor at Home, the website wasn’t built to do huge volume, so it’s about making sure the customer can buy coffee quickly and easily.”

Hawksmoor – no sale mandate but assessing investment landscape: Graphite Capital-backed steakhouse concept Hawksmoor has not begun a sales process but is assessing the investment landscape in the UK and the US. A report over the weekend suggested that the company, which made its debut in the US in New York last year, had appointed investment bank Stephens to launch the process in 2023. Propel understands that although the company, which explored an initial public offering (IPO) earlier this year, has been talking to Stephens about the investment landscape in UK, and especially the US, to try to understand it better, no official appointment has been made as yet. It is thought that on the back of the brand’s successful launch in the US, it is excited about the potential for Hawksmoor internationally, and that a second location across the States has recently been earmarked. Talking to Propel last month, co-founder Will Beckett said when the company explored a possible IPO last year, “the timing wasn’t quite right”. He added: “We are also starting to see some of the differences between investor sentiment in the UK and in the US. Things seem much more buoyant in the US. The launch of Hawksmoor in New York has been incredible, with amazing reviews and a full restaurant, and the scope for the business is huge there. Our challenge is that we are still relatively unknown in the country, and New York is not America, but we will develop that over time because it’s obvious that Hawksmoor can be very successful in the US.”

Otherworld reports record revenue, plans US launch next year: Otherworld, the Imbiba and Edge-backed immersive entertainment business, marked its fifth year of trading with record revenue and site profitability in August as it gears up to launch in the US. The business said it generated £435,000 sales in August in its Victoria, Hackney and Birmingham locations, with revenue up 60% since January 2022, and achieved 90% gross profit across the group, alongside a market leading net prompter score of 75. Propel understands the company is planning at least four openings next year across the UK and US. Miami and Austin are understood to be its initial US targets, before New York and Boston follow. Founded in 2017 by Ed Wardle and Chris Adams, Otherworld has raised £6.4m in venture capital and secured locations with Land Securities, Transport for London and Hortons’ Estate, and said it “transports thousands of guests to the metaverse” every week. With locations contributing strong cash flows, reinvested in the development of the VR experience, the business said it expects to reach positive group cashflow in mid-2023. Adams said: “We are delighted to build upon our position as leader in connecting high streets to the VR metaverse and have exciting growth plans ahead across the UK and eastern US. Our market-leading revenue yields per square foot and low-labour, digital-first model will continue to drive our expansion in the years ahead.”

Chaiiwala unveils plans for 500 UK sites as part of ambitious expansion plans, makes senior appointments to support growth: Street food cafe franchise Chaiiwala has unveiled ambitious plans to open hundreds of new UK outlets and expand internationally. Chaiiwala, which currently operates 62 sites across the country, has committed to open 60 new premises next year and intends to create 500 UK outlets overall. The business said it is looking to expand into the US, Canada, the Middle East and Europe after experiencing a period of rapid growth. To facilitate its expansion plans, Chaiiwala has named Abdul Piranie and Simon Hooper as its new chief financial officer and international business director respectively. Piranie brings more than 20 years’ experience in financial services to the group, having previously worked with HSBC Bank and Global Payments, where he was the finance director of Europe. Hooper has accumulated two decades’ worth of strategic growth experience, working with boards across the UK, the Middle East and Asia. He has held senior roles at Al Raya in Saudi Arabia, Geant Casino hypermarket group in Kuwait and Hypercity in India. Chaiiwala started in Delhi in 1927 before branching out into the UK with an opening in Leicester four years ago and spreading rapidly through a franchise model.

London stuffed gelato concept set to expand through franchising, ten sites signed up including first regional opening: Stuffed, the London stuffed gelato doughnut concept founded during lockdown by Ikram Hussain, is set to expand through franchising. It already has ten franchise sites lined up, including its debut regional site, while a second company-owned site is in the pipeline too. The first Stuffed opened in Shoreditch last summer, since when it has been exploring expansion through franchising. Two franchisees have now signed up to open five stores each, with the first of them set to open in High Wycombe before the end of the year. Andy Hulbert, managing director of Bee Smart Franchise Consultancy, which has been working with Stuffed Gelato on its franchise launch, said: “Stuffed is a unique dessert and coffee brand – no business in the UK is making desserts how it does. From day one, its ethos is to only use the best and freshest ingredients. It wants to control what goes into its desserts and serve them in a way that resonates with a new generation of consumers. It has created a brand that showcases its ethos with interesting store designs in unique express cafe/bar environments.”

Casa do Frango hatches plan to expand: Marco Mendes, one of the co-owners of MJMK Restaurants, the operator of Casa do Frango, said he and his partner, Jake Kasumov, were looking at expanding the concept to perhaps 10 to 12 locations. Talking to The Times, Mendes said: “We want to have a Casa do Frango in every major neighbourhood in London. The idea is that people would go a couple of times a week. We feel like we’ve got the audience and the appetite to see that happen. We’ve got lots of markets to explore: Clapham, King’s Cross, Shepherds Bush, High Street Kensington, Notting Hill, Queensway.” Mendes said he’d love to take Casa do Frango national too, adding: “I’m very confident we’d be able to find opportunities in cities like Leeds, Manchester or Edinburgh.” He said the initial focus would be to “make sure we can make it work in London a little bit more” before spreading further afield. The first Casa opened in July 2018 at London Bridge, where it has weekly takings of £80,000 to £90,000. In 2019, it opened a second site, in Shoreditch. MJMK also operates Kol, a Michelin-starred Mexican establishment; Lisboeta, a Portuguese restaurant; and a Cuban outfit called La Rampa. The group has a turnover of £20m, but Mendes said there were no plans for a sale or stock market listing. To fund the new openings, the company is raising “upwards of £1m” from family and friends, although the co-founders will remain majority shareholders. Casa do Frango will open its first central London location next month, totalling 5,000 square feet, on the former Ice Bar site in Heddon Street. A further opening for the concept in Victoria, on the unit formerly occupied by Hai Cenato in the Nova development, is earmarked for next year. MJMK is also set to launch a permanent site for AngloThai, the concept from husband-and-wife team John and Desiree Chantarasak, in London, next year, with a site near Oxford Street/Fitzrovia thought to be under consideration.

Wingstop UK adds two further sites to its openings pipeline: Lemon Pepper Holdings, which is rolling out Wingstop across the UK, has added a further two sites, in Staines and Southend, to its openings pipeline. The company, which recently opened its largest site to date here under US chicken brand, in Manchester’s Trafford Centre, will open in the former TSB Bank site in London Road, Southend, and in the ex-Limeyard site in Staines. Earlier this summer, Wingstop UK secured a new multi-million-pound debt facility to aid the further roll of the concept in the UK. It currently operates 23 sites here, comprising a mixture of bricks-and-mortar sites and dark kitchens. The company also has openings lined up in Brighton and Wood Green.

Heavenly Desserts set to make international debut: Artisan dessert restaurant Heavenly Desserts is set to make its international debut in the coming weeks. The company, which opened its first store in 2008 and now has circa 42 UK sites, already has master franchise agreements in place for countries including the US, Pakistan and Denmark. But its first international opening, in the district of Mississauga, near Toronto in Canada, will launch next month. “We will finish the year with close to 50 UK stores and our first international store!” managing director Mohammed Imran wrote on LinkedIn. “Not at all possible without our hard-working head office team, awesome customers, great supply chain and our family of franchisees. Myself and Yousif Aslam (co-managing director) have made it our target to Heavenly Desserts across the globe, aiming for 50 total locations by the end of 2022. With master franchise rights already secured in the USA, Pakistan and Copenhagen, the new Mississauga location represents the brand’s successful efforts to break into the Canadian market as well. New locations are also being planned for other major cities across Canada.” In the meantime, Heavenly Desserts postponed the grand opening of its latest UK store, in Bath, due to the Queen’s funeral, and it has now been rearranged for Saturday, 24 September.

Center Parcs stung by shortfall of workers: Center Parcs was battling a shortfall of hundreds of workers at the start of the summer season, accounts reveal. Filings show that the business, which operates five holiday parks around the UK, had reduced employee numbers to 8,119 in the year to April 2022, down from 8,722 in 2019. All its holiday parks were open during the most recent financial year, to the end of April 2022, following earlier covid restrictions. The drop in staff levels was most pronounced in administration roles, where worker numbers were 9.5% below 2019 levels. There were also fewer staff in housekeeping positions and working on leisure activities by April this year. Center Parcs said it had embarked on a hiring spree since the end of its financial year. A spokesman said: “As of now, we have actually a greater number of employees than we did pre-covid.”

Fred Sirieix to launch fourth prison restaurant: First Dates maître d’ Fred Sirieix is opening a fourth prison restaurant under his charity, Right Course. The new training restaurant, run by prisoners, will open at HMP Berwyn in Wales. Speaking on the Lorraine show on ITV, he explained his charity had so far worked with three prisons across the UK and is soon to begin working with HMP Berwyn. Sirieix said: “I started working with disadvantaged kids around five years ago, and I had the idea to set up a new charity to transform the staff mess in prisons into training restaurants – restaurants you’d see on the high street. The prisoners run the restaurant, they run the front of house and they cook. The customers are the staff of the prison. Between 40% and 60% of people reoffend when they leave prison, but if you have a job upon release, you’re less likely to reoffend. And there’s such a huge staff shortage in the hospitality industry, it’s a no-brainer. Every single prison has a staff mess, so instead of running that like a canteen or cafeteria, run it like a school, a training restaurant. There are about 90 prisons in the UK, so possibly not all are going to be suitable, but we have three sites now, and we’re about to open a site in HMP Berwyn in Wales. We want to roll it out and open more restaurants in prisons.”

Northumberland operator acquires squash club in Alnwick: Northumberland operator Terry Maughan has acquired Alnwick Squash Club. Maughan has bought the venue from Hilton Charlton in a deal brokered by Christie & Co. The club features two squash courts, a gym and bar. Maughan, who owns several licensed and hospitality businesses across the region, including the Marsden Grotto pub and restaurant with rooms in South Tyneside, said: “My intentions are to keep the business trading in pretty much the same way, albeit with some investment into the décor and furnishings, as well as the booking and reservation system, in order to provide a more streamlined customer experience.”

Liverpool city centre restaurant sold after operator enters liquidation: Jobs have been saved at a Liverpool steak restaurant after its assets were sold following the company that operated it entering liquidation. Holbeck had been behind Churrasco Steakhouse in Paradise Street, which first opened in October 2021. The restaurant is based in the former George’s Great British Kitchen site that closed in September last year. The premises provides a bar and approximately 85 covers. Mark Colman and Lisa Ion, of Leonard Curtis, were appointed joint liquidators to Holbeck on 8 September. The liquidators confirmed to Business Live they had successfully negotiated a sale of the assets with the company’s director. This has allowed the director to offer continued employment to staff, safeguarding 18 jobs. Holbeck’s sole director was Graeme Parry, who is also the only director of Liverpool-based GP Steakhouse, which was incorporated in July this year, as well as GP Restaurants Liverpool. Churrasco Steakhouse also operates a second venue in Aigburth Road, near Lark Lane, which is unaffected.

North Yorkshire Michelin-starred restaurant set to re-open next month: A North Yorkshire Michelin-starred restaurant will re-open next month – nearly a year after it was wrecked in a suspected arson attack. The 14th century Star Inn, in Harome, was gutted in the blaze in November 2021 and has required specialist restoration due to its grade II-listed status. It will partially re-open on 1 October, with the newest side of the building, which was not as badly damaged, re-opening first, and works on the rest expected to be finished by December. Owner Andrew Pern told the BBC: “Hopefully for us, the re-opening will have a feel-good factor, and people will have missed us. We have been out of the catering world for a year, it’s been like our third lockdown.” Pern, who also operates The Star Inn the City in York, last December received planning permission to open the York Minster Refectory Restaurant – a joint venture with York Minster, Gem Construction and interior designer Rachel McLane.