Sixes co-founder – franchising in the UK will allow us to focus on international expansion, keen to take on more premium city sites here: Andy Waugh, co-founder of Sixes, the cricket-based competitive socialising concept, has said franchising in the UK will allow the business to focus on international expansion. Sixes currently operates 13 UK sites and made its international debut last year, in Dallas, in the US. Earlier this month, it partnered with City Pub Company founder Clive Watson, former cricketer David Nash and his brother Glen, and Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar for a new venture called Sixes Growth. “We’ve teamed up with some of our investors who have started a growth fund people can invest in,” Waugh told last week’s Propel Multi-Club Conference. “The idea is they will take on leases in the UK where we can use our operations team to run them. This will allow us to grow the brand in the UK without having to raise more funds and allows us to focus our resources on new territories and the US. Our big focus this year and the start of next year is to open a big site in the US, probably somewhere very exciting like New York, and we’re looking at a couple of places. India is a massive opportunity, so we’re speaking to people about franchising there – as well as Australia, South Africa and Canada. It's a very exciting time, the opportunity seems huge.” Waugh also said the business – whose investors also include current and former cricketers Andrew Strauss, Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Joffra Archer and Yuvraj Singh – is keen to take on more premium city sites here. “Our latest site, in London Bridge, is performing exceptionally well and making us rethink our off-the-beaten-track strategy,” he added. “It’s a prime location and we’re hoping to pay it back within 18 months – a really fast turnaround and a profitable site. Our strategy initially was to take on second generation sites, off the beaten track, with great capital contribution terms. We did five sites rapidly within 12 months, which was great growth but very painful as we made a lot of mistakes as well – the biggest one being we were just taking sites without knowing what our model was. In hindsight, we realised bigger sites with more nets was better, but two-net sites were still kicking off Ebitda of high teens and five-net sites 30%-plus.” Waugh was among the speakers at last week’s Propel Multi-Club Conference. His video and the 12 others from the conference will be made available to Premium Club members on Friday, 27 September, at 9am. 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 a supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.

Final Propel Multi-Club Conference of 2024 open for bookings with free places for operators, features panel discussing customer loyalty in hospitality: The final Propel Multi-Club Conference of 2024 has opened for bookings. The full-day conference – titled “new directions, new ideas” – takes place on Wednesday, 30 October at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London Kensington. The conference will include a panel where Kara Purves, group marketing director at Zonal, will talk to Rebecca Farrer, director of digital and loyalty at Wagamama; Lauren Kopsch, head of digital marketing at Gail’s; and Kat Schofield, head of sales and marketing at Gusto, about customer loyalty in hospitality and how this compares with other sectors. They will also deep dive into the DNA of loyalty and what that means outside of loyalty programmes and reward schemes. For the full speaker schedule, click here. Operators can book up to three free places per company while Premium Club members who are operators can book up to four free places. To book, email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com.

 

Next edition of Premium Club Turnover & Profits Blue Book released tomorrow shows sector companies’ profit outstripping losses by £1.00bn, down from £2.02bn last month: The next edition of the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which will be sent to Premium Club members tomorrow (Friday, 13 September), at midday, shows the profit being made by sector companies is now outstripping losses by £1.00bn, but this is a drop on the £2.02bn last month. The Blue Book shows the total profit of the 978 companies in the list is £4,355,115,243 and losses are £3,354,916,860. The Blue Book shows 610 companies in profit and 368 reporting losses. The Blue Book is updated each month and ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors' earnings for the past five years. Premium Club members also receive access to five other databases: the Multi-Site Database, 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 Hospitality. All Premium Clubs members will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events including the Talent and Training Conference (1 October), Restaurant Marketer and Innovator (two days in January 2025) and Excellence in Pub Retail (May 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.

 

London hotels see benefit of Taylor Swift tour during August: London hotels saw a spike in hotel performance during August as Taylor Swift returned to the capital on her Eras Tour, according to August preliminary data from CoStar. Occupancy was up 2.7% to 83.9% compared with last year while average daily rate rose 5.1% to £191.94 and revpar grew 8% to £160.98. On 15-17 and 19-20 August, Swift wrapped up the European leg of her tour at Wembley Stadium. Hotel performance levels reached a monthly high on the night of the third concert (Saturday, 17 August), which pushed occupancy to 94.0%, average daily rate to £239.01 and revpar to £224.77. The market’s second highest performance metrics were seen on 16 August with occupancy at 91.8%, average daily rate at £224.36 and revpar at £205.92. Overall, London’s occupancy remained above 80% in all but five days during August.

 

Job of the day: COREcruitment is working with a rapidly growing leisure business with more than 20 locations across the UK that is seeking an experienced chair to guide the strategic direction and growth of the company. A COREcruitment spokesperson said: “The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience in a chair or senior leadership role within a medium to large-scale business, preferably within the leisure or hospitality industry. Due to global expansion plans, international experience and connections is a must for this role. This position would also suit an experienced non-executive director who is looking to take their first role as chair. The commitment for this role is one day per month in addition to quarterly board meetings.” The position is based in London. For more information, email emma@corecruitment.com.

 

Promoted content – meet Eman, the founder of Bisan Bites who is proudly bringing Palestinian flavours to London’s streets: In 2022, Eman embarked on a journey to bring the authentic taste of Palestinian cuisine to the vibrant street food scene of London. Seeking guidance from the Streets Ahead programme, she transformed her passion into reality, creating Bisan Bites – a culinary venture celebrating the rich flavours of her heritage. To find out more, click here.

 

Tommi’s Burger Joint UK business acquired out of administration: The UK business of Icelandic brand Tommi’s Burger Joint has been acquired out of administration, by a new vehicle set up by the concept’s operations director, Chris Todd, for a total consideration of £81,000, Propel has learned. Launched in Iceland in 1981 by Tomas Tómasson, the brand launched here in 2012 as a pop-up before permanent sites opened in London’s Marylebone, Chelsea and Soho. The Chelsea site has since closed, and the site in Berwick Street, Soho, has also recently been shuttered, but the brand still operates a site in Thayer Street in the capital. At the end of 2017, the company opened a regional site in the Oxford Westgate scheme, which has now also closed. The wider business also operates sites in Iceland, Germany and Denmark. Begbies Traynor were appointed administrators to the UK business of Tommi’s Burger Joint and have since sold the Thayer Street site, which continues to trade, to new vehicle Bullan, of which Todd is a director. The administrators said: “Funds were loaned to the company by the Icelandic franchisor, TBJ HF, to fund the company’s working capital. However, the company’s business was negatively impacted by the covid-19 pandemic and performance took longer to improve than the directors expected. The franchise was terminated due to a failure to pay franchise fees but, prior to this termination, the company obtained a high interest loan of £800,000 from a third party. The company remained in financial difficulty from 2021 onwards. We understand that the directors sought to agree payment plans with HM Revenue & Customs from 2021 but were unable to raise the funds in 2022 and 2023 to ensure that company could meet its obligations to creditors. The directors were exploring options to place the company into an insolvency process in April 2024 and matters came to a head in May 2024 when HMRC attended with a taking control of goods notice, although this was never implemented.”

 

Flight Club to open in Oxford in November: Flight Club, the darts brand owned by Red Engine, is to open a site in Oxford in November. Propel revealed at the end of last year that Flight Club was set to launch on the roof terrace of the Westgate development in the city. Now, the brand has confirmed the venue will welcome customers from Friday, 22 November. The site will be 7,000 square feet, with 11 oches and have capacity for 250 people. Steve Moore, chief executive and co-founder of Flight Club, said, “Oxford is an incredible city with so much history, so we’re excited to become a part of that, but also, we believe that Flight Club offers something special and unique that the city hasn’t seen before.” Red Engine and its partners have already opened four new sites, with Oxford marking the fifth for 2024. With Oxford open, the total Red Engine and partners estate will stand at 30. This is set to increase to 33 by year-end, with Flight Club Philadelphia, Washington and Melbourne set to open. Earlier this month, Moore told The Sunday Times that revenue at Red Engine, which also operates Electric Shuffle, is expected to hit £125m in 2024. A new report has been produced by Propel on the fast-growing experiential leisure sector. The report profiles the current shape of the experiential leisure market – including brands, estate size, trading type and geographical location and future trends. It provides a detailed list of UK experiential leisure companies including key staff and Companies House information. The report includes more than 180 companies, 3,500 sites and a 35,000-word report. The report was made available on Tuesday (10 September) to Premium Club members. 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.

 

Jamie Oliver launches debut frozen meals range: Chef Jamie Oliver has launched a range of frozen meals for the first time, which will be stocked in major supermarkets. The first meals from the range will be inspired by Jamie’s most popular classics and include the Mighty Moussaka, the Comforting Cottage Pie and a chicken tikka masala. The frozen meal mains, priced from £4 a serving, have already launched in Iceland but will be able to be bought in Waitrose in October. Oliver said: “My dream has always been to inspire more people to cook, but I know time and inspiration are the biggest barriers for busy people. So, me and my team have done all the hard work and cooked up a selection of delicious dishes, so all you have to do is heat and serve.” Kevin Styles, chief executive of the Jamie Oliver Group, added: “It’s unrealistic to expect busy people to cook from scratch every night. These meal centres and frozen sides give high quality, high taste options from a trusted chef that’s now available for everybody.”

 

Fat Hippo to enter breakfast market: Better burger brand Fat Hippo is to enter the breakfast market next week with the launch of a new menu. Launching from Monday (16 September), the 17-strong brand’s new breakfast menu will be served daily from 9am to 11:30am, available to dine-in or order via Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat. Starting at £6, Fat Hippo’s breakfast menu will include the Uncle Buck – a breakfast burger featuring a sausage patty, smoked bacon, American cheese, the brand’s signature crispy potato hash rounds, a sunny-side-up egg, Fat Hippo sauce, and chipotle ketchup. The menu will also feature a pancake stack, with options ranging from bacon and maple syrup to an Oreo and Biscoff combo. Bottomless filter coffee will be provided by Grind. The new menu will launch in the brand’s sites in Durham and Jesmond, followed by Newcastle, York, and Glasgow, with more locations rolling out throughout next week.

 

Six by Nico to open in Bristol before year-end: Six Company, the company behind the Six by Nico restaurant business, will open a site under its core brand in Bristol before the end of the year. The company has secured the former Carluccio’s site in the city’s Cabot Circus scheme to open a 3,200 square-foot Six by Nico restaurant at Quakers Friars, next to Cote, in November. Since opening in Glasgow’s Finnieston in 2017, Six by Nico now has 16 locations, with a Newcastle site also in the pipeline. In April, Propel revealed that Six Company had appointed advisors to assess its funding options as it looks to step up its expansion plans in the UK and overseas and has begun working with Cavendish on its strategic options. Until now, Six Company’s growth has been funded out of cash flow and debt provided by ThinCats.

 

West London pizzeria concept set to open fourth site as part of new riverside hub in Fulham: West London pizzeria concept Base Face Pizza is set to open fourth site as part of new riverside hub development in Fulham. Base Face Pizza, founded during lockdown in 2020 by jazz bass player Tim Thornton when he could no longer tour the globe, currently has sites in Barnes, Hammersmith and Putney. Its fourth location will form part of Fulham Pier, a new seven-tier riverside promenade between Putney Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge, made possible by the transformation of Fulham FC’s riverside stand. Opening in the summer of 2025, Fulham Pier will also feature a second site for curry restaurant Goila Butter Chicken, which currently operates a site at Charlotte Street in Mayfair, and singer Tinie Tempah’s Raps soul food concept. There will also be a riverside market, a member’s club, a health club and spa and an events area called The Orange Box. Glen Sutton, director of Fulham Pier said: “With a year-round programme of events, activations and a variety of food and beverage experiences, we are excited to be taking an innovative approach to delivering a new social destination for residents, locals and tourists in West London. We’re also pleased to be able to support London based businesses, with several zero rent opportunities available for small enterprises and entrepreneurs across the site.”

 

SSP JV announces brand line-up at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports: Extime Food & Beverage Paris, a joint venture between French airport operator Groupe ADP and SSP – the operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide – has announced the brands it is bringing to Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports. There will be five new Eataly units and six new Côté Sushi locations across the two airports, along with 19 Paul bakery shops and 13 Brioche Dorée sites. There will also be 16 Starbucks, seven Pret A Mangers, 17 locations for fast-casual concept ExKi and one Gourmet Burger site. Gérard d'Onofrio, managing director SSP Frabeli, said: “We are extremely proud to have won this prestigious tender and to collaborate with Groupe ADP for the creation of the Extime Food and Beverage Paris joint venture. This initiative reflects our deep commitment to transforming the restaurant experience at Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports.”

 

Rosslyn Coffee lines up fifth site: Award-winning coffee business Rosslyn Coffee has lined its fifth site in the City of London, with further openings in the pipeline. The concept, which was founded by former Caravan head of wholesale James Hennebry and Mat Russell, will open later this month, in Lime Street, Leadenhall Market. This summer, the business opened a site at the Royal Exchange. It is thought that the company plans to open a further site in Central London before the end of the year. The business, which launched at the start of 2018, also operates at the Tower42 Estate, Queen Victoria Street and London Wall.

 

Newgate Pubs & Bars to open third The Mayfair site: Newgate Pubs & Bars, the venture led by former Cameron’s Brewery pub estates and operations director Joe Smith, is to open a third site under its The Mayfair Pub & Kitchen concept, in the north east. The site will open at 33-35 Parliament Street, Harrogate, this November. The venue, which will serve food daily, will also offer music from live DJs and live sports coverage. Last year, the business opened the second The Mayfair in Sir Nigel Gresley Square, Doncaster. The original site under the concept was opened in Newcastle. Smith spent more than three years as pub estates and operations director at Cameron’s. He also had stints at Greene King and Enterprise Inns. 

 

Pret further builds relationship with Exultant franchisee, to open third Sheffield site: Pret A Manger will open a third site in Sheffield this November with franchisee Exultant Group. The new 1,200 square-foot unit fronts Cambridge Street and is located on the ground floor of the Isaacs Building – a new office building that forms part of the Heart of the City scheme. Pret currently has a site in Meadowhall and will also be opening a unit in Meadowhall Frasers on Wednesday, 25 September. Having taken the decision to close its Fargate shop in the city during the pandemic, Pret said it is returning to a new central Sheffield location with more space for customers, including 38 internal seats and 20 external seats. The opening forms part of Pret’s commitment to reach more people in towns and cities across the UK. This includes its ongoing expansion across Yorkshire, with shops in Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and York. Guy Meakin, UK shops and franchise director at Pret, said: “It’s wonderful to be bringing Pret back to Sheffield city centre. We know our freshly made food and organic coffee is popular here, so we’re delighted to be opening a spacious new shop in the Heart of the City development.”

 

Cubitt House co-founder to open third site for Boxcar concept: Cubitt House co-founder Barry Hirst is to open a third site for his Boxcar concept. Boxcar Bread & Wine is set to launch in early October in Connaught Village in London’s Westminster. By day, the site will serve bakery goods and coffee, transitioning later in the day to a menu focused on cured meat, fish, cheese and relishes, all accompanied by house-baked bread. Hirst launched the Boxcar concept in New Quebec Street in Marylebone in 2017 before adding Boxcar Baker & Deli on the corner of Crawford Street and Wyndham Place the following year. Hirst founded central London gastropub operator Cubitt House with Stefan Turnbull in 2005, selling a majority stake in the business to a consortium of private investors in 2015. Colliers acted on the Connaught Village deal.

 

JD Wetherspoon takes Fleetwood pub off the market: JD Wetherspoon is set to stay in Fleetwood, Lancashire, after plans to sell its pub in the town centre were scrapped. The Thomas Drummond in Lord Street has been taken off the market, six months after it was put up for sale. The pub – located between Lord Street and Dock Street – had been listed for sale by Wetherspoon in February. Wetherspoon had not given a reason for its decision to sell but confirmed it has now decided to keep the pub open. Manager Claire Buxton said: “Staff are delighted that the pub is to remain open, and I am confident our customers will welcome the news too. We look forward to serving the Fleetwood community for many more years to come.”

 

Azzurri Group spins off digital platform Openr as separate business: Azzurri Group, the hospitality investment platform that operates ASK Italian, Zizzi, Coco di Mama and Boojum, has spun off its data platform Openr into a separate business and begun selling it to other sector operators. Developed in-house by the group’s digital and technology director Joel Robinson, Openr is already being used by Stonegate Group. Azzurri Group chief executive Steve Holmes told Propel: “Joel joined us from Sainsbury’s about five years ago, and we had a mission to try to really invest in and embrace digital across our businesses. I think we felt that hospitality was a little bit in the dark ages. We were bringing his knowledge into the Azzurri business to evolve our capability.” He said tech-wise, the group previously built its own pay and order at table app and developed its own Zillionaires loyalty app for Zizzi, and has fully rolled out kiosks in Coco di Mama. “And then Openr came about because we were looking for a way post-covid to manage the complexities of all of our menu items effectively,” Holmes said. “Pre-covid, you just put everything in the POS system, and then post-covid, we had to provide all of our menu integration to Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber Eats and the apps. There was an awful lot of data we had to populate into multiple systems manually. We’ve developed a piece of technology that effectively you put all your menu information into, attach photography, attach your price point and calorie and allergen information, and it publishes it everywhere you need it in real time. We also stumbled on the ability to do things like dynamic pricing.”

London multi-site operator strengthens portfolio with West Drayton pub: Newline Pub Company, which operates a small number of sites in London, has strengthened its presence in the capital by adding a site in West Drayton to its portfolio. The company has acquired the lease of The Cat and Fiddle, which is owned by Wellington Pub Company. The group had been seeking a new long-term tenant to reopen the property and “unlock the potential” of the traditional wet-led community pub. David Wilson, associate director at Christie & Co, who handled the sale, said: “This is another example of the demand for leasehold pubs within Greater London.”

 

David Lloyd lines up new site in Kent: Health and leisure business David Lloyd is lining up a new site in Kent. The company has applied to Canterbury City Council to develop the venue at the Altira Business Park in Herne Bay. The proposal includes a new 48,000 square-foot health and fitness club on a 1.92-hectare plot of vacant grassland located to the north of The Boulevard. To the west of the health club building, an outdoor spa, outdoor pool, and padel court is proposed, and to the east would be three outdoor tennis courts within an enclosed air dome structure, allowing play all year round, reports Insider Media. David Lloyd operates 133 sites in the UK and Europe.

 

New treehouse accommodation concept opens debut site: A new treehouse accommodation concept has opened its debut site. TreeDwellers has welcomed its first guests at the site in the heart of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Hidden within the 1,700-acre woodland of Cornbury Park and neighbouring the village of Charlbury, the seven treehouses offer one- and two-bedroom self-catering escapes. Elevated three metres above the forest floor, the private retreats feature fully equipped kitchens, living areas with wood-burning stoves, and one or two king size bedrooms. Tim Rees, founder and chief executive of TreeDwellers, said: “It’s been a long journey to bring this vision into reality and I am thrilled to share this extremely special place with our guests. The woodland has long been a sanctuary for me, and I am confident our guests will leave feeling relaxed, restored, and inspired.”

 

Senegalese restaurant concept strengthens London presence: Senegalese restaurant concept Little Baobab has strengthened its presence in London with an opening in Southwark. Having served its menu from its Peckham Levels hatch and operated other pop-ups across the city, Little Baobab has a new long-term resident kitchen at The Africa Centre in Great Suffolk Street after taking over the space previously occupied by pan-African concept Tatale. Little Baobab’s new seasonal dinner menu includes dishes such as Akara pancake with tomato onion sauce and fried okra; and Lamb Mafe – lamb chops served with creamy sauce, fried cassava puree, and grilled carrots, reports Hot Dinners. There is also regular live music, showcasing some of London’s best African musicians.

 

Former Pidgin duo open new wine bar and restaurant on site of the former Michelin-starred venue: Drew Snaith and Hannah Kowalski, who met while working together at Pidgin – the restaurant in London’s Hackney from James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy famed for its weekly changing tasting menu – have opened a new wine bar and restaurant on the site of the former Michelin-starred venue. Ramsden and Herlihy, who opened Pidgin in 2015, announced last month that it was closing after nine years of service. Opened in its place, at 52 Wilton Way, is Sesta, from Snaith and Kowalski, who were head chef and general manager at Pidgin respectively. It is a first restaurant from the duo, who also worked together at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Brunswick House and Kitty Fischers. Their à la carte menu champions British seasonal ingredients, with “modern, creative takes on British and European classics”. There is also an ever-changing list of natural wine by the glass and bottle, with a keen focus on France and wider Europe, plus cocktails and spirits made in-house. Sesta seats 26 covers inside, plus an outside terrace.