Pizza Pilgrims reports record results: Pizza Pilgrims, the pizzeria brand, has reported record results and laid out plans to expand into Scotland and Wales. In the year to 25 June 2023, revenue at Pizza Pilgrims increased by 37% to £28.7m (2022: £21.0m) and pre-tax profit more than doubled to £0.7m (2022: £0.3m). Ebitda before exceptional items was £2.4m (2022: £1.1m). It said that demand was particularly strong at its sites in Carnaby Street, Victoria and Waterloo in London, as well as Cambridge and Leeds in the regions. Two new sites have opened to date in Queen’s Park, London and Leeds since the company’s June year end. Pizza Pilgrims said it typically opens six new sites each year which are “opportunistically selected in busy urban centres, characteristically located in buildings with charm and character”. The business said it achieves a strong ROCE of 85% across the estate (excluding sites open less than 12 months). A further four new sites are scheduled to open this calendar year: Euston and King’s Cross in June and November respectively, and the group plans to open debut sites in Wales and Scotland – in Cardiff (August) and Edinburgh by December 2024. It said that with minimal debt, new site expansion is almost entirely self-funded from free cash flow. Each new site creates 15-25 new jobs. In March, Propel revealed that the Gavin Smith-led business was planning to open its first site in Wales after lining up an opening in Cardiff. The 22-strong, Imbiba-backed business hopes to open at 1-4 High Street, formerly home to RBS bank, on the corner with Duke Street, opposite Cardiff Castle. The company also recently launched its Pizza at Home Kit, a retail product released in collaboration with Ocado. Including Deliveroo custom, eat-out sales now account for circa19% of income. Pizza Pilgrims has a workforce of about 480 people, serving up to 50,000 pizzas a week. Bestselling pizzas in the year under review were the margherita and the double pepperoni hot honey. The business said: “Trading continues to be strong across the company’s portfolio of sites and we have a terrific pipeline of new opportunities as the team continues to execute its measured, growth plan for the Pizza Pilgrims brand and build a sustainable business for the future.” Thom Elliot, co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims, said: “The strong trading across the business, led by Gavin, Sophie (Gilchriest, finance director) and the team, underlines the commitment we have made to serve the best, authentic Neapolitan pizza with our own twist. From our very first pilgrimage to Italy in 2012, the team has constantly strived to raise the bar and retain our position as pizza pioneers, sourcing the very best ingredients, pushing boundaries and obsessing about the happiness of our teams and our customers. We have always strived to grow at the right pace, and we remain focused on building a sustainable business for the long-term which will continue to delight customers and support our teams for decades to come. This year will see four new openings, including our inaugural pizzerias in Scotland and Wales – as we continue to demonstrate that sustainable growth remains an output of running a great business, rather than our sole focus. We continue to love the journey and look forward to bringing our team’s legendary Neapolitan hospitality to our growing band of Pilgrims in new cities up and down the land.”
Next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality to be released on Friday, 24 May featuring 872 companies: The next Who’s Who of UK Hospitality will be released to Premium Club members on Friday, 24 May at midday. Another 11 companies have been added to the database, which now features 872 companies. This month’s edition will also include 42 updated entries. 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.
After the great resignation, workers decide to stay put: The covid-era “Great Resignation” is over and has given way to a “Big Stay”, with workers fearful of rocking the boat amid Britain’s uncertain economic outlook. The Times reports that the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for human resources workers, said the findings from its latest labour force survey pointed to lower staff attrition and fewer job moves this year. For much of the past 18 months, recruiters have said that people are increasingly reluctant to move jobs for fear of being the last in and first out if things go wrong. The lucrative pay offers offered during the pandemic’s ultra-competitive jobs market also have stopped. Whereas someone changing companies two years ago might have been able to get a 15% pay rise, recruiters think 5%, at best, is now more realistic. That is thought to be contributing to the slow hiring market. “The so-called Great Resignation is well and truly over and has been replaced by the Big Stay, with more people opting for job stability,” James Cockett, labour market economist at the CIPD, said. He added that the hiring market was now returning to pre-pandemic levels after a hectic few years. The CIPD’s quarterly survey, in which more than 2,000 businesses were questioned, revealed that only 30% expected to increase their staff numbers over the summer, the smallest figure since early 2021, when Britain was put back into a second lockdown.
Business parks left empty as office workers prefer city centres: Business parks have been left deserted as companies seek out the hustle and bustle of city centres in an effort to keep their staff happy. The Times reports that Britain’s biggest such parks are generally much emptier than traditional office blocks in towns and cities, according to figures from CoStar, a property analytics group. Some, including Maxim Park just outside Glasgow and Stockley Park near Heathrow airport west of London, are almost half-empty. On average 9.1% of all office space throughout the UK is vacant. Of the 11 parks studied by CoStar, all have higher vacancy rates than that. “One line of thought in the early days of the pandemic was that business parks would become more popular as office workers sought to avoid public transport,” Grant Lonsdale, director of market analytics at CoStar, said. “The opposite became true as the threat of the virus receded and businesses and their workers sought vibrancy and social contact provided by city centres.” Agents have talked repeatedly about a “flight to quality” over recent years, with companies demanding modern, eco-friendly sites in city centres and being happy to pay extra for those buildings. By contrast, there has been a struggle to lease space in “secondary” buildings on the outskirts of towns and cities. “Demand [for business parks] has waned from occupiers because they need to go back into towns and city centres in order to compete for the employees,” the boss of one commercial property group said. “People don’t want to work in business parks. They want [to work] somewhere they’ll have a choice of Itsu or Pret or Starbucks.”
