Propel 500 – 2024 saw chicken shops emerge as significant engine of growth, trend set to continue through 2025: Amid fierce competition in the quick service restaurant (QSR) sector, chicken shops emerged as the most significant engine of growth, and this trend is anticipated to continue through 2025, writes Meaningful Vision founder Maria Vanifatova in the introduction to the Propel 500 report. The comprehensive report showcases the UK’s 500 leading hospitality operators ranked by turnover, providing more than 90,000 words of analysis – delving into company histories, leadership structures, site numbers and financial performance, making it an essential resource for industry professionals. Vanifatova’s is just one article in a report that is delivered in two parts: an introductory PDF, featuring deep dives into the top 25 companies and 6,500 words of insight from Propel’s expert writers, and a fully searchable Excel sheet, offering easy access to all the data. Further analysis includes Mark Wingett’s exploration of mergers and acquisitions shaping the Top 500’s future and Tim Street’s view of the UK’s franchise market. Katherine Doggrell examines developments in UK hotels, while Mark Bentley, business development director at HDI, identifies emerging growth sectors and Phil Pemberton provides insights into experiential leisure as a hospitality cornerstone. Together, the Propel 500 companies generate more than £30bn in turnover across 51,000 sites, and the report spans seven key segments: pubs and bars, hotels, QSR, casual dining, cafe and bakery, experiential leisure and fine dining. A list of these operators can be discovered now by visiting the Propel 500 page on Propel’s website. Propel 500 is available now for £595 plus VAT. Existing Premium Club members can purchase it for £395 plus VAT. Premium Club members will receive the report for free on Friday, 28 February at 9am. Order the Propel 500 report today by emailing: kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com.

Young’s plans to increase cost of a drink by up to 3.5% ahead of national insurance changes: Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax raid on employers will push up the price of a pint, Young’s chief executive Simon Dodd has warned. Dodd said Young’s plans to increase prices between 3% and 3.5% because of the increased cost of national insurance contributions paid by employers, which comes into effect from April. This would add around 20p to the cost of a pint sold at £6.30 – the average price of a pint of beer in London according to CGA. Dodd told The Telegraph: “We’ll mitigate as much as we can of the national insurance contribution – we’ll do that through efficiency, we’ll do that through investing in our pubs. But there will be some price passed on to the consumer.” However, he insisted that Young’s, which runs almost 300 pubs mainly across London and the south of England, would take a “sensible” approach to increases. Dodd’s comments came as Young’s revealed a 7.9% rise in like-for-like sales over the 15 weeks to 13 January compared with a year earlier. He said people were still keen to come out and spend money despite Britain’s economic turmoil, and highlighted premium beers and cocktails as having seen particularly high demand. He suggested independent pubs rather than groups would face a greater impact from the Budget. Dodd said: “If you’re a one-man band, and you’ve got one pub, it’s very, very tough with all of the cost headwinds. We’re just fortunate, we have nearly 300 and we trade in very affluent areas.”

 

Everyman reports record levels of growth in membership and market share but box office performance in fourth quarter ‘not as strong as anticipated’: Everyman, the independent, premium cinema group, has reported record levels of growth in membership and market share but said box office performance in the fourth quarter was “not as strong as anticipated”. The group also said “as a consequence of increased uncertainty” arising from the autumn statement, it is more cautious around the outlook for 2025 and 2026. The company stated: “The most notable underperformer was Joker; Folie à Deux. This was followed by congestion in the calendar on remaining blockbuster releases, with five in five weeks, leading to titles competing against each other negatively impacting the period. Guest spend per head, while still in growth for the full year, softened during November and December due to the higher than expected proportion of family content. The group remains committed to measured organic expansion with excellent opportunities available for new sites. Two new openings are confirmed in London for 2025 – a three-screen venue at Brentford Lock in the second quarter and a five-screen venue at The Whiteley in Bayswater) in the third quarter. The group expects to open a further three new venues in 2026. The group’s focus continues to be on controlling net debt and materially reducing leverage over the next two years. With no further impact from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the group has confidence in the film slate for 2025. Distribution across the year is also significantly improved, which will be particularly beneficial in the first half of the year. Key titles for the year include Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, F1, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Michael, Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire and Ash.” It comes as Everyman reported group revenue of approximately £107.2m for the year ending 2 January 2025 (2023: £90.9m), up 17.9% year on year. Group Ebitda is approximately £16.1m (2023: £16.2m). Market share increased to 5.4% (2022: 4.8%). The company also reported a reduction in net debt to £18.2m (2023: £19.4m). Three new venues were opened during the period – in Bury St Edmunds, in Cambridge and in Stratford in London. The group now operates 47 venues with a total of 163 screens (2023: 44 venues with a total of 152 screens). Paid for average ticket price was up 2.8% to £11.98, (2023: £11.65). Food and beverage spend per head rose 3.4% £10.64, (2023: £10.29). During the year, Everyman saw record growth in membership to more than 56,000, a 65% increase on 34,000 in 2023. Chief executive Alex Scrimgeour said: “Despite the last year’s film slate being heavily impacted by the actor and writer’s strikes as well as the fourth quarter box office underperformance of certain movies, we have made positive operational and strategic progress, resulting in record levels of membership and growth in market share. We are focused on continuing to control debt and reduce leverage, and, notwithstanding the wider trading environment, we will continue to deliver Everyman’s unique brand of hospitality to our growing customer base, with two exciting openings confirmed in 2025. We remain confident in delivering further growth, bolstered by our market leading position and continued demand for Everyman’s elevated cinema experience.”

 

Premier Inn owner turns to robots to clean rooms after taking a £70m hit from Budget: Whitbread will use robot vacuums to clean hotel rooms to save staff costs after taking a £70m hit from the Budget. The Premier Inn owner said the automation of some cleaning tasks was part of a £50m cost-saving programme, reports The Mail. This will help to offset higher employment costs imposed by chancellor Rachel Reeves, which analysts reckon will cost Whitbread £70m. The business was already trialling the gadgets before the Budget and believes they will help cleaners focus on other tasks. Chief executive Dominic Paul hailed “good progress” made to trim costs as well as a £500m plan to convert restaurants into hotel rooms, targeting 97,000 rooms in total. Whitbread said it expected cost inflation to be between 2% and 3% across the group, after taking into account its efforts to save cash.

 

Starbucks director Mellody Hobson to leave after two-decade tenure: Starbucks has announced Mellody Hobson, the lead independent director of its board, will depart after a tenure of nearly two decades with the company. Hobson previously served as chair of Starbucks from March 2021 to September 2024, making her the only African American woman to chair a Fortune 500 company at the time of her appointment. “In two decades, I have never sold a single Starbucks share and plan to remain a steadfast investor,” Hobson said. She informed Starbucks earlier this week of her decision to not stand for re-election at the upcoming annual shareholders’ meeting, according to a filing by the company. The exit comes at a time when corporate America is scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies meant to boost racial and ethnic representation at workplaces. In March, Starbucks’ shareholders voted for an executive compensation plan that dropped a bonus related to DEI goals. Starbucks is also navigating an overhaul of its US locations under chief executive Brian Niccol, who has been tasked with steering the company back to growth after it took a hit from falling demand for its pricey beverages in the key US and China markets. Since 2019, Hobson has been the co-chief executive and president of investment management firm Ariel Investments and assumed her current role along with Niccol last year. Hobson would continue to serve through the remainder of her current term, Starbucks said.