Paul Hopper to resume founder and MD role at HOP as Richard Franks steps down: Vietnamese street food concept HOP has announced that founder Paul Hopper has taken on the role of founder and managing director as current managing director Richard Franks steps down. The company said the news follows discussions between the two about the five-strong group’s strategy following the recent opening of its flagship Manchester city centre restaurant, and as it looks ahead at new openings over the coming months. Franks, the former managing director of Chilango, was brought onboard to oversee a rapid expansion of the chain’s mainly London City-based portfolio. However, the company pivoted strategy, preferring to refine its core business over significantly increasing the size of its portfolio. The business said the strategy, which saw the brand refine its menu offer, strengthen its core team, open its first out of London restaurants, and launch its first all day, seven-day locations, has paid dividends with profitability increasing at all locations. Hopper said: “Richard’s two-year tenure as managing director has been transformational for the business. Implementing growth structures and systems, building the senior team and improving the day-to-day operations has laid strong foundations for HOP’s future. We took a decision to spend the last two years getting our core offer and team right, in favour of our original plan to open five to ten locations per year. I’m pleased that this decision is paying off – we know so much more about our business than ever before, and this has put us in a fantastic position to open new sites next year. We will continue to refine our offer and learn more about our guests’ needs over the next 12-18 months before we look to ramp up our openings, with a view to opening two to three further locations in 2025. I want to thank Richard for the invaluable part he is played in our journey. His dedication, expertise, and leadership have been instrumental in transforming HOP into what it is today, and I am immensely grateful for his contribution.” Franks said: “I could not be more proud of the journey we have taken over the last two years at HOP. In that time, we have worked our socks off to put in place the processes, structures and teams to allow the business to grow. It has been important for the senior team to take a cautious approach to its restaurant opening strategy, making sure we are able to consistently serve the best quality, fresh food to guests around the country. Paul’s passion and dedication to the fantastic brand he founded is clear to see and I am absolutely certain that he is the right person to see it through this next period in its history. I am convinced that HOP’s future is bright and that it will soon become a household name. I will, of course, be rooting for Paul and the team from the sidelines and I am excited about what’s next for me.” Last month, HOP doubled its presence in Manchester with an opening in the city’s The Arndale scheme. Spread over two floors and positioned opposite the city’s Royal Exchange, the site is the brand’s biggest opening outside London to date. HOP, which also operates sites in London’s Moorgate and St Paul’s, debuted its new all-day, seven-day a week format last summer in Bond Street, in the West One shopping centre. It is also understood to be in talks to open a site in King’s Cross.

XP Factory secures new £10m banking facility: XP Factory, which operates the Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar brands, has secured a new £10m revolving credit facility (RCF) provided by Barclays, which will aid the speed of its expansion. The company said the facility increases its flexibility and capacity to grow both the Escape Hunt and Boom estates, provides additional working capital headroom, and will enable the company to refinance an existing £1m debt facility at significantly lower borrowing costs. It said the facility has been secured on the strength of the underlying cash generation in the business. In the 15 months to 31 March 2024, XP Factory said it delivered £6.5m of free cash flow after maintenance capex, representing an annualised yield of 24% based on the company’s current market capitalisation of £21.9m. It said that over and above this strong organic cash generation, the RCF will allow the group to more actively manage and accelerate its expansion of the Boom Battle Bar and Escape Hunt networks. The group has £22.3m of carried forward tax losses which together with future capital allowances from expansion in the estate “provides significant future benefits before corporation tax will become payable”. Historically, investments into new sites within the Boom and Escape Hunt networks have generated returns on capital of 52% and 48% per annum respectively. Richard Harpham, chief executive of XP Factory, said “Securing this new RCF represents an important milestone for the group. Not only is it a strong endorsement of the progress made in the last few years, but it will significantly enhance our ability and confidence to add further venues to our two fast growing brands. Our existing cash generation supports around five to six new site openings per annum. Although there will not be any impact in the current financial year, with the facility in place we have the ability to increase the pace of roll out in 2025 and beyond whilst maintaining conservative debt ratios.”

Graduates shun bosses who don’t offer WFH: Nearly half of all graduates and final-year university students would not apply for jobs that require attendance in a central office five days a week, a new study suggests. The Times reports the research by IWG, the FTSE 250 flexible offices provider, found another 18% of younger workers “unsure” whether they would work for companies that refuse to allow any working from home. This leaves firms insisting on full-time office attendance with only 33% of the graduate talent pool to choose from, IWG calculated. Businesses, including Amazon, PwC, and Santander, have been enforcing stricter in-office requirements. Amazon ordered staff back to the office five days a week from January. The survey, conducted among 1,000 students and recent graduates, found that while salary remained the top priority for three-quarters of graduates, more than half (54%) ranked hybrid working of equal importance. It was also deemed more important than workplace culture, access to health insurance and a good pension scheme. Graduates equated hybrid working with a 13% salary increase due to the savings on commuting and housing costs. Even so, 63% of those surveyed said they believed time in the office was necessary to work collaboratively and learn from colleagues. Analysis by the Office for National Statistics suggests that around 13% of employees work from home full time, with 36% permanently office based and the rest dividing their time between the two.

Supermarket bills edge higher as shoppers feel pinch: British shoppers felt more strain on their household budgets last month as the cost of supermarket bills edged up. The Times reports that annual grocery price inflation rose to 2% in the four weeks to the end of September, from 1.7% in the prior four-week period, according to Kantar, the market researcher. The data showed prices had risen fastest in products such as chilled soft drinks, chocolate confectionery and skincare, while prices fell in household paper products, dog food and cat food. Official data published last month showed overall UK inflation had stayed flat at 2.2% in August. Figures for September will be published next week. The Kantar data also showed that UK grocery sales had risen 2% in value terms over the four weeks, year-on-year, compared with 3% the month before. Spending on promoted items rose by 7.4% in September as households sought to manage their finances. By comparison, full price sales nudged up by 0.3%. Despite the annual rate of grocery inflation growing, the contest between the grocers to attract shoppers through their doors has led to prices being rolled back on some essentials. “In the fiercely competitive retail sector, the battle for value is on,” Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said.