Hard Rock Café UK reviewing operations and lease arrangement of London Piccadilly site, narrows losses as turnover hits record £32.5m: Hard Rock Café UK is reviewing the operations and lease arrangement of its site in London’s Piccadilly as it reported record turnover and its losses narrowed in 2023. The company reported turnover increased to £32,545,000 for the year ending 31 December 2023 compared with £27,245,000 the previous year. Revenue also exceeded the £30,762,000 reported for the year ending 31 December 2019 – the last full year before the covid pandemic. Pre-tax losses narrowed to £1,080,000 from £9,461,000 the previous year (2019: loss of £1,154,000). The number of restaurant transactions increased 11% to 682,411 from 615,251; retail transactions were up 16% to 296,942 from 255,213; restaurant average spend grew 12% to £32.44 from £28.86; and retail average spend increased 7% to £41.38 from £38.50. In March 2024, the company, which employs around 450 staff, closed its Glasgow café, leaving it with venues in Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh along with two in London – its Piccadilly site, which opened in 2020, and its other London site, in Old Park Lane, which opened in 1971. In their report accompanying the accounts, the directors stated: “During 2023, the company recorded right of use leased asset impairment expenses of £0.6m (2022: £8m), related to the Glasgow cafe (2022: Piccadilly cafe). Management is reviewing the Piccadilly cafe operations and lease agreement with the goal of improving results at this location.” No dividend was declared (2022: nil).

Three days to go until Propel’s Talent & Training Conference with focus on how companies can build a culture to attract, develop and retain talent: There are three days to go until Propel’s Talent & Training Conference. The all-day conference takes place on Tuesday (1 October) at One Moorgate Place in London and is open for bookings. The conference will showcase examples of outstanding people culture among companies within the sector and how the industry is attracting talent. Attendees will hear how businesses are developing their teams, dealing with talent shortages and keeping their staff energised. Also new for this year are “parallel sessions”, which offer the chance to deep dive into specialist subjects. For the full speaker schedule, click here. Tickets are £345 plus VAT for operators and £395 plus VAT for suppliers. Premium Club members get a 20% discount. Email: kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to book places.

Leon sees continued improvement in sales through 2024 after losses widened in previous 12 months: Natural fast food brand Leon has said it remains confident that its sales will continue to recover from the lasting impact of covid, and that this is supported by “continual improvement seen throughout 2024”. The 82-strong business, which is owned by Asda, reported revenue growth for Leon-owned sites, on a like-for-like basis, of 17.1%. In the year, there were three company-owned openings, together with one franchise unit opening. At the same time, there were five owned restaurant closures. At the year end, the company operated 53 company-owned sites and 29 franchise units. Total revenue stood at £64.9m (£52.2m), with adjusted Ebitda of negative £7.8m (2022: negative £5.1m). It posted a pre-tax loss of £19.6m (2022: loss of £13.3m). The company said: “Throughout 2023, the business saw continued recovery from covid-19. Weekly sales and footfall to our restaurants improved week by week, although the year remained challenging. The UK economy was still on the road to recovery going into 2023 which was exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. This again led to inflationary pressures, particularly seen with electricity costs and cost of sales. Industrial action, particularly rail and tube strikes, further affected the business, given the location of many Leon restaurants to transport hubs, resulted in lower footfall and sales on strike days Furthermore, the working-from-home trend has impacted many Leon restaurants, particularly ones based in office centric locations, and these have seen a slower recovery. Management remains confident that sales will continue to recover, and this is supported by continual improvement seen throughout 2024. The net liability position at the end of the financial period totalled £21,958,452 (2022: net liability £9,413,531).” Supermarket operator Asda took full ownership of Leon last November after completing the acquisition of EG Group’s UK business for an enterprise value of £2.07bn. Leon features in the Propel UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, which is an exhaustive guide to the companies offering a food and beverage franchise in the UK and is available exclusively to Premium subscribers. The database is updated every two months, and the latest version features 270 businesses. 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. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.

Jollibee plans to ‘significantly increase its number of UK stores by end of 2028’ as it forecasts modest increases in revenue: Jollibee, the Philippines fast food group, has said it plans to “significantly increase its number of UK stores by the end of 2028”, with “modest increases in revenue” forecast for this year. The company, which operates 12 sites across the UK, saw revenue in the year to 31 December 2023 increase from £17.9m to £24.9m, partly reflecting store openings during 2022 and also a growth in sales volumes. The company reported operating losses of £4.5m for the year (2022: loss of £5.9m), while its pre-tax loss stood at £5.3m (2022: loss of £6.48m). It reported an Ebitda loss of £2.6m for the period compared to loss of £4.1m in the previous year. The company said it is financially supported by its parent company group, which had provided loans and other funding amounting to £20.9m at 31 December 2023. The parent company, Jollibee Worldwide Pte (part of the Jollibee Foods Corporation group of companies), has undertaken to provide the company with sufficient additional financial support to enable the company to continue trading as a going concern, sufficient to cover its operating losses and to discharge its debts and liabilities as they fall due for the foreseeable future. The company said: “A further net operating loss is expected for 2024 and 2025 partly as a result of inflation, higher than expected food cost increases, and a significant increase in the national minimum wage.  Modest increases in revenue are forecast for 2024 and then more substantial increases are planned from 2025 as the Company intends to significantly increase its number of UK stores by the end of 2028. This is expected to lead to further economies of scale and a profitable trading performance.” Jollibee made its UK debut in 2018 and operates about 1,200 sites worldwide.

Richard Corrigan says 2023 was an ‘ambitious’ year with successes and challenges, Park Café in Dublin closes with a loss of £1,365,663: Richard Corrigan Restaurants has said 2023 was an “ambitious year” for the business with multiple projects, and with some successes and challenges across the group, including the closure of Park Cafe in Dublin after just over a year, with a loss of £1,365,663 for the 12 months to 31 December (2022: £467,000 loss). The company, led by Richard Corrigan, chef patron of the Corrigan Collection, which includes Corrigan’s of Mayfair, Bentley’s and Daffodil Mulligan, as well as the Virginia Park Lodge in Co Cavan, said that despite Park Café, which closed at the end of 2023, getting excellent national food reviews and gaining a strong following, the timing of the project coupled with the economic issues and the challenging location meant it was not viable to continue. Turnover for the wider group stood at £16,397,275 for the year (2022: £15,742,036), while its posted a loss of £1,080,816 (2022: £216,897). The company said: “One of the highlights was the business of Virginia Park Lodge in Ireland which saw revenues increase year on year by 7% and adjusted Ebitda (excluding exceptional items) increased by 57%. During the year, we opened a new Gastro pub with rooms, the Deer Park Inn and closed our project in Dublin after just over a year with a loss of £1,365,663 for the year (2022: £467,000 loss). London saw some slowing of sales in the latter part of the year driven by continuing train strikes and to a lesser extent people continuing to choose to work from home. Complete focus remains on the long-term assets which continue to trade well in FY24 and the settling of the train strikes was welcome news, and tourism in London is starting to become solid too, which is very good for us. There are many new restaurant ventures opening in the West End and while we have no immediate plans for new projects, we have been delighted with the successful opening of the Portrait Restaurant by Richard Corrigan which begins a new and exciting relationship with Searcys 1847, Britain’s oldest catering company founded in 1847 who operate at prestigious venues around the country. The hospitality sector remains a tough market to be in with pressures both new, and some old, making trading conditions harder than they have ever been. Without doubt staff are our industries' most important asset and new employment reforms will continue to create further economic pressures for us to navigate towards the end of 2024 and into 2025. Despite that, we continue to enjoy the benefits of our long-term freehold strategy which creates a solid foundation for longer term success in London and Ireland.”

Burger & Lobster sees FY PBT almost double, restaurant sales up 4%: Burger & Lobster, the nine-strong London restaurant group, has reported a marginal decline in turnover for the year to the end of 2023, but saw its restaurants’ sales grow by close to 4% and pre-tax profit almost double. Turnover in the year stood at £36,144,574 (2022: £36,510,956), while Ebitda was £3,545,116 (2022: £2,232,250). Pre-tax profit stood at £1,274,279 (2022: £681,104). The company said: “In the financial year 2023, the recovery in the sales was confirmed. Despite the 25 weeks of closure in our nine restaurants for their refurbishment in the first months of the year, the restaurants’ sales grew by close to 4%. Our wholesale supply sales are driven by very different dynamics including the market price of lobster. The overall turnover marginally declined to £36.1 m. Our gross margin has further increased from 37% in prior year to 42%. Despite the labour costs having increased as a result of the increase in National Minimum Wage, efficiencies were gained in the operations. Group Ebitda increased from 6% of sales in the 2022 financial year to close to 10% this year and the operating profit increased to close to £1.5m. The business remains in a strong financial position at the end of 2023, with the net asset position of £4.1 m (2022: £3.3m) and a cash balance remaining at £9.2m. The business remains focused on driving performance in existing restaurants in London by enhancing the quality and relevance of its offering whilst continuing to invest in the teams and processes to support the operations and in the brand. The enhancement of our customer’s experience remains our main objective.” The Misha Zelman-led business also operates a further 11 restaurants in New York, Singapore, Bangkok, Genting, Kuwait City, Hong Kong and Doha. 

Vaulkhard Group continues long-term strategy of moving away from away from ‘late-night young people venues’: North east leisure firm Vaulkhard Group has said it has continued with its long-term strategy to reposition away from late-night young people venues, and that as it approached the final quarter of this year, is well placed to overcome the challenging market conditions. During the year to 31 December 2023, the group continued to reposition its trading portfolio with the disposal of two late-night, leasehold venues. Since the year end, the group has also disposed of a predominately late-night freehold venue. Also post-year end, the business has acquired the freehold of a trading venue within Newcastle City Centre, and also acquired a significant events space venue within Newcastle City Centre. It said: “These acquisitions and disposals are in line with the board’s long-term strategic objectives to reposition the group away from late-night young people venues.” The company recorded turnover of £15.9m (2022: £18.8m) in the year to 31 December 2023 and positive Ebitda of £1.1m (2022: £1 .4m). Pre-tax profit stood at £1.73m (2022: £259,461). The company said: “When taking into account the seasonality of the prior 15-month period, the directors believe that this performance is an improvement on the Ebitda generated for the 15-month period to December 2022. In recent years, group performance has been dominated by challenges ranging from covid-19 to more recently cost of living problems and energy cost crisis. It is therefore pleasing to note that as we look to the future, there is genuine hope that these are a thing of the past and that we can continue to focus on customer experience. During the year, the group has continued with its strategy to acquire freehold trading sites and has purchased the freeholds of two of its trading sites in Newcastle City Centre. At the balance sheet date, net assets had increased to £18.1 m compared to £15.3m at the end of the previous period representing an increase of 18%. The group’s leasehold values are revalued annually by the directors, taking into account each site's fair maintainable trade. This revaluation exercise has resulted in a revaluation gain of £1.5m, as seen in the group Income Statement and a significant £1.6m revaluation gain as seen in the group Statement of Comprehensive Income. This is an overall gain of approximately £3.1 m which is a testament to the hard work of the board who continued to add value to the portfolio during this challenging trading period. As we approach the final quarter of FY24, the Board believes that the group is well placed to overcome the challenging market conditions and the well documented inflationary pressures, including high utility costs, wage inflation and an overall increase in costs, The positive changes made by the directors during the period of the Pandemic and beyond can now be seen to be taking effect and gives the board confidence as we look toward 2025 and beyond.”