Variety of cafe/bakery brands to feature in next New Openings Database: Premium members will receive the next New Openings Database on Friday (2 February), at midday. The next database includes a variety of cafe/bakery concepts including Birmingham bubble tea brand Mowchi, which is set to triple its estate size in 2024, while Heavenly Desserts is aiming for 100 sites by the end of 2026 and Patisserie Valerie has reopened its store in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, which the firm said was “a significant milestone” as it looks to reopen some of its once 200-strong estate. The database will show the details of 95 site openings, including which company has opened a site or its plans to open one in the future. It will have details on what type of site it is and its location, and there will also be a website link to the businesses. The database is published on a monthly basis and Premium Club members will also receive a 4,800-word report on the new additions to the database. Premium members also receive access to five other databases: 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 Who’s Who of UK Food & Beverage. 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.

SSP delivers double-digit like-for-like growth in the UK: SSP Group, UK operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, has said it made a strong start to the year with “encouraging trading momentum and progress on strategic initiative”, as its reported double-digit like-for-like growth in the UK in the three months to 31 December 2023. During the group’s first quarter it reported a 17.1% rise in like-for-like sales across its UK and Ireland business, versus the previous year, and sales of £207m. It said: “The new financial year has started well with group sales in the first quarter of £788m, up 21.2% on last year on a constant currency basis. Like-for-like sales growth of 14.3% reflected the further recovery of passenger numbers as well as the strength of our customer proposition and operational execution. Net contract gains of 6.9% were in line with expectations, as we mobilise our extensive secured pipeline, and include a contribution from acquisitions of 2.2%. Since the close of the first quarter, we have continued to see good trading momentum, notwithstanding the impact from industrial action which is expected to persist in both Continental Europe and the UK throughout the second quarter. We saw robust trading led by leisure travel demand across all regions with the strongest performances continuing to be in North America and APAC & EEME, where we operate with joint venture partners. In North America, sales grew by 30.5% year-on-year, on a constant currency basis, with a strong like-for-like performance, up 10.2%, complemented by net gains of 20.3%, which included a circa 10% benefit from the acquisition of the Midfield Concessions business (with the final airport transferring in November 2023). In Continental Europe, sales grew by 13.3% year-on-year, on a constant currency basis, with a particularly strong performance in Spain. In the UK, sales increased by 22.8%, with a strong like-for-like performance, up 17.1%, reflecting good passenger numbers in the air sector and further improvement in rail passenger volumes as commuters continued to return to working in offices, as well as a lower incidence of industrial action compared with last year. In APAC and EEME, sales rose by 25.2% on a constant currency basis, as we saw further improvements in passenger numbers across the Asia Pacific region, most notably in India. While we face into macroeconomic and political uncertainty, we believe that demand for travel will remain resilient and the industry is well set for both short-term and long-term structural growth. The new financial year has started well, with revenue momentum being maintained and inflationary pressures on operating costs being mitigated through our ongoing productivity and pricing initiatives. As a result of our current trading performance, our expectations for FY24 remain in line with the planning assumptions outlined at our Preliminary Results on 5 December 2023. We continue to plan for like-for-like sales growth for the full year of between 6% and 10%, net contract gains in the region of 5% (with a further contribution of circa 2% from acquisitions), underlying Ebitda within the range of £345-£375m and underlying operating profit within the range of £210-235m, all stated on a pre-IFRS 16 basis, at constant currency based on average rates for 2023.” Patrick Coveney, chief executive of SSP Group, said: “I am pleased with the good start that SSP has made to the new financial year. There continues to be encouraging momentum in our key growth markets of North America and Asia Pacific and we have also delivered double-digit like-for-like growth in our more established markets of the UK & Ireland and Continental Europe. Global demand for travel continues to grow and we have a strong pipeline of secured new contracts around the world. This, combined with our constantly improving customer proposition and our proven ability to mitigate inflationary pressures, means that we remain confident in our prospects for the balance of FY24 and beyond.”

Delivery Hero to sell stake in Deliveroo: Delivery Hero is selling its stake in fellow online food dispatch group Deliveroo, as the sector comes down from the highs of the pandemic-boom of consumer demand for takeaways. The FT reports that the Berlin-based group said it intended to sell up to 68.2 million class A ordinary shares in Deliveroo – equivalent to about a 4.5% stake – and does not expect to hold any stock in the company after the settlement. Food delivery groups have been coming under increasing investor pressure to demonstrate profitability as the cost of capital has risen sharply, while the sector has also been hit by the cost-of-living crisis. The move comes two months before Deliveroo founder Will Shu’s dual-class shares are due to expire on the third anniversary of the company’s initial public offering. These provide him with extra voting powers – including the ability to block a hostile takeover. Delivery Hero said the sale underlined its “commitment to disciplined capital allocation” and that the proceeds would be used for “general corporate purposes”. Based on Deliveroo’s closing price on Monday of 121.90p, the sale could raise about £83m. Delivery Hero added it would place the shares through an accelerated bookbuilding process with institutional investors, with the results to be announced following pricing. It said the placement was expected to be finalised on Thursday (1 February). Bradley Hughes, an analyst at Shore Capital, said Delivery Hero had represented “one of a few plausible acquirers in the consolidation debate” and attention would now shift to whether US food delivery group DoorDash could “use the opportunity to move in”. Delivery Hero in September confirmed it was in negotiations for a potential sale of its Foodpanda business in selected south-east Asian markets including Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand. Barclays Bank Ireland, Goldman Sachs Europe and Morgan Stanley Europe are acting as joint bookrunners for Delivery Hero’s placement of Deliveroo shares. Deliveroo declined to comment.

Scrapping VAT-free shopping costs UK £11bn, warns report: The government’s decision to scrap VAT-free shopping for tourists is costing the economy £11.1bn in lost GDP and deterring about two million foreign visitors each year, according to an analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The Times reports that the number of tourists coming to the UK still remains around one million visitors short of pre-pandemic levels and spending by tourists in real terms has also failed to recover fully. Rishi Sunak’s decision in 2021 to charge VAT on shopping for tourists, reversing a tax rebate that had been in place for decades and still exists in every EU country, has been highlighted by the CEBR and business leaders as a reason for the slow recovery in UK tourism. The think tank calculated that visitor numbers would have been 589,000 higher in the third quarter of last year if a rebate scheme had been in effect and expenditure would have been about £1.3bn higher. Across the year, visitor numbers could have been two million higher with a £4bn increase in spending, leading to a GDP boost of £11.1bn and a net fiscal gain of £2.5bn. The research comes as more than 420 business leaders, from the chief executive of British Airways, Sean Doyle, to Gianfilippo Testa, the leader of fashion house Alexander McQueen, have called on Sunak to reinstate VAT-free shopping for tourists. In the letter, the signatories point to research by tax-free shopping experts Global Blue, based on a sample of 11 leading retailers, showing that the post-pandemic recovery in consumer spending in Italy, Spain and France have all considerably outstripped the UK’s own recovery.