Exclusive – Yard Sale Pizza sees potential to grow into UK-wide business: Yard Sale Pizza, the restaurant and delivery business that includes sector investor Paul Campbell as non-executive director, has told Propel it sees the potential to grow into a UK-wide business and is set to explore opportunities to aid its ambition. The business, which was co-founded by Johnnie Tate and Nick Buckland in 2014, recently opened its tenth shop in London, in Tottenham, which has had record sales for a new opening. Tate told Propel: “Tottenham has started really well, and being our tenth, it is a big milestone for us. We’re hoping to open at least another one, potentially two, later this year. We’re trading well up on last year, all the shops are profitable, and overall, I feel the business is doing really well. We are now starting to think about options for accelerating growth. We believe there’s still a lot of opportunity inside London, especially in neighbourhood areas which we target, but also we’re talking about outside of London as well, as we feel there’s a lot of opportunity outside the capital. Brighton always comes high up in the conversation because we feel it’s a natural next step, but we’ll see. We talk a lot about the satellite towns around the outskirts of the M25, there’s a lot of opportunities there, but we also get excited about finding sites in Manchester and Birmingham. We feel strongly that Yard Sale has the potential to grow to more than 100 locations and become a UK-wide business, and we envisage that’s where it is going.” The company, which was named Best Value Eats at the Observer Food Monthly Awards in 2022, has also become synonymous with successful, high-profile collaborations, including ones with celebrities such as Amelia Dimoldenberg and Romesh Ranganathan. Tate said such collaborations had helped drive last year’s growth, but its growth ambitions would not impact the group’s USP of having its own delivery model. He said: “We haven’t got any plans to start using a delivery aggregator. Our model allows us to control the product, control service and protect our brand, which is such an important part of Yard Sale. The essence of the business is something we’ve been super aware of, especially around the opening of this tenth shop. It felt like a real milestone, but also it was thinking about preserving what makes Yard Sale unique and so special, from a brand side and from a delivery side, and continuing to double down on those as we grow further.”

Exclusive – Cinema operator Vue accelerating flexible pricing roll-out as turnover recovers but losses grow: Cinema chain Vue International has said it is accelerating the roll out of flexible pricing based on market demands, as its turnover recovered but losses grew in the year ending 30 November 2022. “Price optimisation enables the group to offer agile pricing strategies to customers that optimise admissions and profit as the industry recovers from the disruption caused by the pandemic,” the company said in its accounts for the period. “As a response to inflationary pressure on the business, Vue has accelerated dynamic pricing rollouts in the UK, Germany and Poland during FY22 and will continue expansion across the group in FY23.” Other “levers for margin improvement and Ebitda growth” include automated content scheduling, which uses algorithms to create film schedules which drive admissions and maximise profits. This has already “been proven to drive admissions’ market share growth in the UK”. The introduction of auto staff rostering software to create schedules based on daily admissions forecasts has also “driven a better-balanced use of cinema operational service hours in the UK”. The group said it has also secured “enhanced supply contracts” from food and drink suppliers to minimise inflationary costs, and continues to review and manage lease contracts, with several re-geared during the year “to deliver additional value for the group, securing landlord funding to support major site refurbishments including the introduction of full recliner seating”. Of its 227 sites worldwide (2021: 227), of which 88 are in the UK (2021: 88), 46 have now been refurbished to include full recliner seating, with a further ten (plus two new sites) scheduled in 2023. It comes as the group reported revenue of £633,751,000 for the year, up from £386,088,000 in 2021, as it recovers from the effects of covid. This compares with £847,553,000 (restated) in the last full year before covid, ending 30 November 2019. Pre-tax losses grew from £228,462,000 in 2021 to £324,642,000 (2019: loss of £52,868,000). The group said the loss is primarily driven by finance costs of £277.6m (2021: £232.4m). Adjusted Ebitda of £25.7m (2021: £35.7m) was reported before a depreciation and amortisation expense of £104.5m (2021: £114.4m), remeasurement gains on right-of-use assets of £7.7m (2021: £4.9m), impact of IFRS 16 lease accounting of £121.2m (2021: £66.7m) and other defined gains and losses of £97.3m net losses (2021: £11.1m net gains). The group said its net losses are driven by corporate and organisational restructuring costs of £10.7m (2021: £1.3m) and impairment charges of £81.7m (2021: £8.2m). The group had total assets at the year-end of £1,946.2m (restated 2021: £2,029.3m), while total liabilities were £3,399.5m (2021: £3,159.7m), resulting in a net liability position of £1,453.3m (restated 2021: £1,130.4m). During the year, £36.8m of government support was received (2021: £96.3m). A corporate restructuring that was agreed in July 2022 to address the challenges posed by covid lockdowns came into effect in January 2023. Vue Entertainment features in the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book. The Blue Book ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. Its turnover of £633,751,000 for the year ending 30 November 2022 is the 16th highest in the database. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.

Exclusive – Tapas Revolution business acquired out of administration for £235,000: The Tapas Revolution business was acquired out of administration for a total consideration of £235,000, Propel has learned. Propel revealed at the start of this month that Spanish Restaurant Group, the owner of the Tapas Revolution brand, had finalised a restructuring and been acquired by Tapas Bidco, a new vehicle led and owned by the brand’s former managing director James Picton. The administrators Simon Renshaw and Avner Radomsky, of RG Insolvency, stated: “Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, the group was trading well and had become the largest Spanish operator in the UK with good footfall and well managed margins. This continued after the initial closure imposed by the government due to the covid-19 pandemic, where high volumes were seen after re­opening. The initial covid-19 crisis exhausted the reserves, leaving the business weak in terms of cash flow and balance sheets, and has more recently been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen turnover fall significantly, costs increase due to the inflation levels and the significant rise in energy pricing, which has risen over 300%. All of this has led to the downturn in performance and required directors to agree to the appointment of advisors.” Following the opening of sites Basingstoke and Newcastle Metro Centre last year, the business, which operates 11 sites under the Tapas Revolution brand, commenced a restructuring process in February, with the transaction concluding at the start of April. The deal saw the departure of all former shareholders within the “group company”. The transaction included the purchase of the Tapas Revolution brand and all the trading locations across the UK.