Next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality to be released tomorrow featuring 876 companies: The next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality will be released to Premium Club members tomorrow (Friday, 21 June), at midday. This month’s edition includes 876 companies and more than 236,000 words of content. The database features 58 updated entries and 11 new companies. 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 Club members also receive access to five other databases: the Multi-Site Database, produced in association with Virgate; the New Openings Database; the Turnover & Profits Blue Book; the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database and the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database. All Premium Clubs members will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events including Social Media for Profit (18 July), the Talent and Training Conference (1 October) and Restaurant Marketer and Innovator (two days in January 2025). Operators that are Premium Club members are also 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 Premium Club 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 Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.

Time Out Group reports strong fourth quarter trading, expects to deliver FY24 Ebitda ahead of expectations: Time Out Group has reported strong fourth quarter trading and said it expects to deliver FY24 Ebitda ahead of expectations. In a trading update for the year ended 30 June 2024, the group said it has delivered improving sales growth rates, with both Media and Market sales accelerating during the final quarter of the financial year. The strength of the sales performance has been accompanied by disciplined management of costs and, accordingly, the group expects Ebitda for the year to be ahead of current market expectations (consensus being £6.7m Ebitda pre IFRS16 and £11.7m post IFRS16). The group highlighted the successful opening of Time Out Porto in May, bringing its portfolio to eight locations, with a further eight new Markets in development and opening over the next 36 months. Barcelona opens in July, with a further four openings in the following 12 months in Bahrain, Osaka, Vancouver and Budapest. It also highlighted increasing synergies between its Media and Markets, including successful bespoke client campaigns spanning both digital channels and live events in the Markets. The group intends to publish its audited full year results in the autumn. Time Out Group chief executive Chris Ohlund said: “We are pleased with our recent trading performance and are increasingly confident that this momentum will continue as we approach the new financial year. Our growth plan and strategic decisions are delivering results; our strong brand and curated ‘best of the city’ content continues to attract more traffic to our digital Media and more footfall to our Markets, alongside our pipeline of openings. We will continue to focus on expanding our content depth and breadth, whilst growing our bespoke creative campaign solutions for advertisers, who will be able to address both our digital audience and our “in-real-life” audience in Time Out Markets. We believe that both Media and Markets offer significant synergistic benefits that deliver a unique and untapped positioning in the B2C advertising industry. I would like to thank everyone at Time Out for their continued commitment, professionalism and hard work as we look to the future with confidence.” In its half-year results for the six months to 31 December 2023, the group said Time Out Market had shown strong profitability. Market like-for-like gross revenue grew 11% in constant currency to £36.5m (2022: £33.0m) while adjusted Ebitda increased significantly to £6.1m (2022: £2.5m). Group gross revenues increased by 7% on a like-for-like basis in constant currency, while group adjusted Ebitda increased 151% to £6.0m (2022: £2.4m).

Morley’s wins High Court battle with ‘copycat’ competitor: Fried chicken chain Morley’s has won a High Court battle with a “copycat” competitor. The fast-food chain, founded 40 years ago and immortalised in a song by Stormzy, claimed that a competitor had wrongly used signage too similar to its distinctive red and white, as well as its ‘MMM... it tastes better’ trade mark. Judge Melissa Clarke ruled in favour of Morley’s, holding that competitor Metro’s ‘It’s the real taste’ sign “infringed the Morley’s red and white mark”, reports the Daily Mail. In his evidence to the High Court, Morley’s boss Shan Selvendran, son of founder Kannalingham Selvendran, said the chain was founded in 1985 and “inspired by KFC”. It began in the heart of south London’s Sri Lankan community with a vision that its food should be “for everyone and accessible to all”, using the distinctive red and white trademark and ‘Triple M’ brand from day one. By the time of his father's death, Shan Selvendran had built up around 40 Morley’s shops, the court heard, with his mum at one point temporarily stepping in to take over the business until he graduated and became chief executive in 2009. The chain currently has more than100 outlets. Giving evidence, Selvendran said Morley’s had faced a “constant battle with imitators”, first locking horns with the boss of franchise Metro’s, Kunalingham Kunatheeswaran, 14 years ago, when he learned that the latter had planned to use the name ‘Mowley’s’ for the launch of a new food outlet. Ruling against Kunatheeswaran, Judge Clarke said his chain strayed beyond the terms of a previous 2018 settlement deal restricting their signage to a blue bordered red banner rather than Morley’s distinctive crimson red banner. “Mr Kunatheeswaran and one of his franchisees also breached Morley’s trademark by using the company's distinctive ‘Triple M’ slogan ‘MMM’ on shop windows and notice boards,” she said. “The franchise defendants and Mr Kunatheeswaran have infringed the Morley’s red and white mark. (He) is jointly and severally liable with the franchise defendants for their infringement of the Morley’s red and white mark. The claimant is entitled to injunctive relief against those defendants who are still using the signs.” A further hearing will take place to decide the exact details of the injunction.

Consumers cutting back on eating out and takeaway food: Consumers are cutting back on eating out and takeaway food to save on non-essential spending, even as inflation has fallen back to 2% this year. New figures from KPMG show that four in ten British households are saving around £77 a month by reducing expenditure on discretionary items after two years of a cost-of-living squeeze caused by rising prices. Just under half of those surveyed said their non-essential spending was unchanged this year, reports The Times. KPMG said spending on restaurants, takeaways and clothing were the biggest areas of cutbacks for savers this year, alongside beauty products and subscription streaming services. Just under a third of the 3,000 consumers surveyed said they were switching to cheaper food and drink brands, buying more promotional and discounted items, and using loyalty reward schemes to save money this year. Linda Ellett, head of consumer and retail at KPMG UK, said: “Slowing inflation does not mean that consumers are seeing a reduction in prices and costs and the overall squeeze on many monthly budgets continues. Consumer confidence and feeling of financial security are clearly divided. This is the landscape facing the next government as they develop their future economic policy.”