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M&B sees first-quarter like-for-likes up 7.7% boosted by strong festive trading, full-year expected to be towards top end of expectations: Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the All Bar One, Toby Carvery and Harvester operator, has reported strong trading over the festive season increased its like-for-like sales in the 15 weeks to 13 January 2024 to 7.7%, with total sales growth of 9.7% versus the prior year. During this period, food like-for-like sales increased 8.7%, with drink sales up 6.6%. For the seven weeks to 13 January 2024, like-for-like sales were up 8.2%, with food like-for-like sales up 9.0% and drinks up 7.2%. For the eight weeks to 25 November 2023, like-for-like sales were up 7.2%, with food like-for-like sales up 8.4% and drink up 5.9%. The company stated: “Following a good start to the year with like-for-like sales growth of 7.2% over the first eight weeks, trading continued to strengthen over the important festive season. Like-for-like sales grew by 10.1% over the five key festive days. We continue to focus on investment in the estate, and in the year to date we have already completed 34 conversions and remodels and have opened one new Alex site in Germany. We remain encouraged by returns being generated. Sales have remained strong throughout the first quarter and, notwithstanding a 9.8% increase in the national living wage in April, overall cost pressures are now abating. We remain mindful of uncertainties ahead but, based on the strong performance of the business so far this year we now believe that the full-year outturn will be towards the top end of current consensus expectations.” Chief executive Phil Urban said: “We are delighted by the strong trading performance over the festive season, with very strong performances across our brands portfolio thanks to the hard work of our teams. Growth was particularly strong on key dates, with record sales for Christmas day based on 229,000 meals served, supported by strong trading in the run up to Christmas, with the return of work parties and festive gatherings driving sales. Our focus remains on the effective execution of our Ignite programme of initiatives and our successful capital investment programme, driving cost efficiencies and increased sales. With the unique strengths of our business, including a diverse portfolio of established brands and enviable estate locations, we are well positioned to continue to grow profitability and market share in the year ahead.”

Next Who’s Who of UK Food and Beverage to feature 838 companies, released on Friday: The next Who’s Who of UK Food and Beverage will feature 838 companies when it is released to Premium subscribers on Friday (19 January). This month’s edition includes a record 57 new companies and 142 updated entries as well as more than 227,000 words of content. The companies, listed in alphabetical order, will have their most recent results reported as well as broader information around Ebitda, plans and trading style available. The database merges Companies House information, interviews and other public information to provide an easy to reference and exhaustive guide to the sector. Premium members also receive access to five other databases: the Multi-Site Database, the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the New Openings Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database and the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database. Propel is evolving its Premium subscription offer by launching Premium Club on Thursday, 1 February. All circa 4,000 existing subscribers automatically become members. The launch of Premium Club comes with even more benefits. All subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to four Propel paid-for events – The Excellence in Pub Retailing Conference (14 May), Social Media for Profit (18 July), the Talent and Training Conference (1 October) and Restaurant Marketer and Innovator (two days in January 2025). Operators will also be able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club members receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club members will be sent a dedicated monthly newsletter that will highlight key updates in the sector and direct subscribers to all the vital content their membership offers. Premium Club members also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Propel Premium subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. 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. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.

Just Eat Takeaway sees UK orders down 6% in 2023, region achieves all-time high quarterly GTV level: Just Eat Takeaway has reported UK orders fell 6% in 2023 to 245.5 million (2022: 260.3 million) with orders in the fourth quarter falling 2% to 64.2 million (66.4 million). However, the company said the UK and Ireland ended the fourth quarter with its highest ever gross transaction value level (GTV). Group GTV growth in 2023 was in-line with guidance. Adjusted Ebitda for the year is ahead of guidance, and is expected to be approximately €320m. Free cash flow was approximately break-even in the second half of 2023, in-line with guidance. The company said management, together with its advisers, continues to actively explore the partial or full sale of Grubhub. Jitse Groen, chief executive of Just Eat Takeaway, said: “We are excited that both our Northern European and UK and Ireland segments have achieved their all-time high quarterly GTV level, showing the strength of our European business. At the same time, we have achieved a significant milestone with the company now becoming free cash flow positive. We are very much looking forward to 2024.”

UK inflation unexpectedly rises to 4%: UK inflation rose unexpectedly to 4% in December due to tobacco and alcohol prices increasing, new figures show. Inflation, which measures the rate at which prices rise, rose marginally from 3.9% in November – its first rise in ten months. Economists had predicted it would fall further. Tobacco and alcohol prices were up 12.9% in December compared with the month before, with the former rising due to recent tax hikes on the product. The surprise uptick comes after much expectation of cuts to interest rates. Financial markets and traders are expecting the Bank of England to cut its base rate in 2024. The bank’s rate, which determines the cost of borrowing money as well as returns on savings, currently stands at 5.25%, a 15-year high.

Hybrid working is ‘here to stay’: Hybrid working is “here to stay”, according to research, which suggests that more than half of employees worked from home for at least part of the week last year. A retail outlook report published by MRI Software found hybrid working – coming into the office fewer than five days a week – has outlived pandemic lockdowns and “continued to become firmly established as a way of life” in 2023, reports The Times. The survey found tan average of 60% of people regularly worked at home for at least part of the week since February last year, peaking at 65% in August. Employees around the world have shifted to doing more remote working as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, when most people were forced to work online while offices were temporarily closed. MRI Software’s report said there were many reasons why hybrid working had risen in popularity, with 33% of employees stating they are equally efficient at home. The cost and length of travel into the office had also prompted more people to work from home for part of the week, as “consumers have been feeling financial pressures across the board”. For employees working from the office, the start of the week rose in popularity, with Monday seeing a significant rise from 44% in August to 60% saying they travelled to the office on Monday in October. That was followed by Tuesday (53%) and Wednesday (56%), with Friday being the least popular day to travel into the office (47%). Despite the widespread adoption of hybrid working by most office-based employers since the pandemic, a recent KPMG survey found 63% of UK leaders predicted a full return to in-office working by 2026.

London’s House of St Barnabas members’ club closes with covid pandemic and ceiling collapse blamed: The House of St Barnabas, a members’ club and charity based in London’s Soho Square, has permanently closed. The charity – which was founded in 1862 – set up a members club to generate additional revenues for its charitable work helping the homeless in 2013. But in a statement on its website, management said the club was closed with immediate effect and the process of winding up had begun. Management blamed the pandemic for starting a process that led to the closure. The members’ club took hospitality in-house in 2020, with the alternative being closure. “The challenges that we have faced through the pandemic and subsequent years have eroded our financial reserves,” the statement said. “We invested for growth this financial year and tried relentlessly to find ways to make the model work. But the returns did not come quickly enough.” A ceiling collapse over the summer of 2023 cost the House of St Barnabas vital income and despite an insurance payout, the business model is “simply not sustainable”. Evelyn Partners will be appointed as liquidators of the company after an orderly wind-down. The building and chapel at the top of Greek Street will be held in trust for charitable purposes. Homeless individuals that have gone through the firm’s Employment Academy – which gave those without permanent homes skills they needed to rebuild their lives – will be supported by the charity Only A Pavement Away. The statement said it had explored other opportunities to keep the charity in operation.

Diageo and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs settle dispute after group buys out rapper: A legal dispute between Diageo and Sean “Diddy” Combs has been settled after the drinks company agreed to buy out the rapper’s 50% stake in the DeLeón tequila brand it jointly owned with him. The settlement, which dismisses all legal action between the two parties, also includes a final payment to Combs under the terms of his marketing agreement to promote Diageo’s Ciroc vodka, which was terminated last summer. The Johnnie Walker and Guinness owner announced in June that it was cutting its ties with Combs, claiming he had breached their contract and had “resorted to false accusations of racism on the part of Diageo and certain of its senior executives, in particular its former chief executive Sir Ivan Menezes”. In a joint public statement, the parties said: “Sean Combs and Diageo have now agreed to resolve all disputes between them. Combs has withdrawn all of his allegations about Diageo and will voluntarily dismiss his lawsuits against Diageo with prejudice. Diageo and Combs have no ongoing business relationship, either with respect to Cîroc vodka or DeLeón tequila, which Diageo now solely owns.” The complaint from Combs Wine & Spirits, his drinks business, had accused Diageo of falling short of its commitments for distribution, investment and brand positioning for DeLeón. It also accused the company of racial discrimination, alleging that DeLeón had been typecast as a “black brand”. In addition to the voluntary withdrawal of his lawsuits against Diageo, the settlement also dismisses a counterclaim by the drinks giant against the rapper. The Ciroc deal was established in 2007 and then in 2014 they formed the joint venture to acquire DeLeón. Combs had previously been a brand ambassador to the group’s Ciroc vodka but had wanted to have an ownership position to underline his credentials as a businessman. Diageo claimed it had invested more than $100m in the tequila venture, whereas Combs had contributed only $1,000. It claimed he had made close to $1bn during the 15-year relationship.

New pan-Asian restaurant concept launches in London’s Chinatown: A new pan-Asian restaurant concept has launched in London’s Chinatown. YiQi, which is the brainchild of Kevin Cheong, has opened at 14 Lisle Street, offering south east Asian dishes from China, Korea and Japan from chef Lum Wah Cheok, who has worked at Hakkasan and Yauatcha. The 2,000 square-foot restaurant’s signature dishes include fried cordyceps flower salad, nyonya pandan chicken, charcoal grilled beef short ribs and skate fish with yuzu, alongside a unique dessert of wagyu mousse. Cheong said: “Launching our debut restaurant within the streets of the iconic Chinatown London is a huge milestone for the YiQi brand and we are very grateful for the support received from Shaftesbury Capital. Providing a unique window on the Far East in Europe, Chinatown London is the perfect setting for YiQi’s debut restaurant.”