Category Archives: Hospitality industry

Premier Inn owner Whitbread ramps up cost-cutting plans as tax rise looms

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Firm’s profits fall 22% and demand slows, with hospitality sector bracing for employer tax increase in budget

The Premier Inn owner, Whitbread, is ramping up its cost-cutting programme amid slowing demand, as the hospitality sector braces for a widely expected employer tax rise in this month’s budget.

The company, which owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurant chains as well as the UK’s biggest hotel brand, said its total revenues had been flat at £1.57bn in the six months to 29 August, while profit before tax fell by 22% year on year to £309m.

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Waiter! Soho’s cafe society confused after law changes on tipping

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Staff should now receive every penny paid in tips – including service charges

Whoever said it’s better to give than to receive wasn’t talking about tipping. Waiters around the UK should be starting to receive a £200m-a-year bonanza thanks to a new law that means every penny paid in tips, including service charges, on a restaurant bill will have to go to staff.

Yet exactly how much of the money will end up in servers’ pockets is unclear. The law was changed because some restaurants took service charges as part of their profits or to pay for overheads such as lighting.

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Spain logs record number of summer visitors amid overtourism protests

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Figure of 21.8 million international visitors to Spain is 7.3% rise on 2023, says national statistics institute

Spain logged a record 21.8 million international visitors this summer, official data has revealed, during a period when anti-tourism protests also took place across the country.

The figure is a 7.3% rise on 2023, the national statistics institute (INE) said.

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Starmer faces pushback from pubs over ‘bonkers’ outdoor smoking curb plans

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Hospitality industry expresses concern about impact on businesses of leaked proposals not denied by PM

Keir Starmer is on a collision course with the hospitality industry and political opponents after signalling plans for major curbs on outdoor smoking.

The proposals, not denied by the prime minister, would potentially prohibit tobacco use outside pubs and restaurants, including on pavements. The restrictions would come on top of existing plans to gradually outlaw smoking year by year.

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SafeWork NSW investigating Swillhouse hospitality group after staff allege harassment and discrimination

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High-profile Sydney bar and restaurant group issues public apology as award-winning bartender comes forward alleging workplace sexual assault

SafeWork NSW is investigating high profile Sydney bar and restaurant group Swillhouse after a series of allegations by staff of harassment, discrimination and unsafe workplaces.

A Sydney Morning Herald investigation this week alleged staff had experienced sexual assault and harassment and drug use within the group’s venues. A former Australian bartender of the year who worked for Swillhouse has publicly come forward as an alleged victim of sexual assault while working at the hospitality group.

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Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin praises economic ‘pedigree’ of Rachel Reeves

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Brexit supporter calls for new chancellor to ‘rectify tax inequality’ in hospitality industry

Tim Martin, the politically outspoken boss of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain, has praised the new Labour chancellor’s economic “pedigree”, as he called for tax changes to help the struggling hospitality sector.

Martin regularly publishes economic and political commentary alongside his company’s results and has previously voiced support for Brexit and Boris Johnson.

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Hawksmoor for sale in deal that could value restaurant chain at £100m

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Investment bank Stephens hired to find suitors for business, which wants to expand overseas operations

The high-end steakhouse chain Hawksmoor has been put up for sale in a deal that could value it at about £100m.

The restaurant chain has hired the investment bank Stephens to start looking for potential suitors for the business, which is hoping to expand its overseas operation.

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Restaurateur Jeremy King continues comeback with opening of the Park

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After losing his empire in 2022, the lauded host is opening a ‘new world grand cafe’ in London’s Bayswater

This month, Jeremy King will open the Park, an all-day restaurant in Bayswater. It is the second of three big 2024 openings for the lauded restaurateur, who was behind the heydays of some of London’s most celebrated restaurants such as Le Caprice, the Ivy and the Wolseley.

It follows the launch of Arlington in January, King’s modern reboot of Le Caprice, once a favourite with the stars from Diana, Princess of Wales to Mick Jagger. Later in the year he’ll be reviving another stalwart, Simpson’s on the Strand.

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Big Mac v Supermac’s: McDonald’s loses EU trademark fight

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Ruling by European court of justice ends 17-year legal tussle between Irish chain and global rival

The small Irish takeaway chain Supermac’s has won a David v Goliath court battle with McDonald’s over the use of the Big Mac trademark, paving the way for it to open outlets across Europe.

The ruling also means the US-founded fast food multinational has lost the right to use the name “Big Mac” in the EU in relation to chicken burgers.

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European cities hope jet-setting Taylor Swift fans will splash the cash for Eras tour

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The superstar arrives in Europe next month – and Swifties, tourist boards and venues are already preparing

Tim Brown, 44, and his wife, Marcella, 34, may not consider themselves bona fide “Swifties”, but when it was announced last June that Taylor Swift would be visiting their corner of the globe this summer they could not resist joining the scramble for a pair of tickets.

A post-pandemic appetite for live music events has fuelled huge worldwide interest in the American singer-songwriter’s Eras tour, which surpassed in $1bn sales in November to become the highest-grossing series of concerts in history.

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London restaurant chain bans diners from using card payments to tip staff

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Ping Pong introduces 15% ‘brand charge’ months before new law will ensure workers get full share of tips

A London restaurant chain has banned customers from paying a tip by card and introduced a “brand” fee instead, just three months before new legislation makes it compulsory to give all tips to staff.

Ping Pong, which operates five dim sum outlets in the capital, said the new optional 15% charge would go towards “franchise fees and other brand-related expenditure”, and replace a 12.5% service charge, 90% of which went to staff.

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Desperate Egypt sells off historic hotels as it dives deeper into debt

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Amid biting austerity and rising inflation, the al-Sisi government is off-loading assets – some to a convicted murderer with Emirati cash

As dusk fell over the verdant grounds of the Marriott Mena House hotel, the reflection of the Great Pyramid of Giza grew darker in a pool built to reflect the last of the seven wonders of the world.

A band played a smooth jazz rendition of the Eagles’ Hotel California on the grassy lawns as guests assembled for dinner, while the staff attempted to project a sense of business as usual, despite the hotel’s recent acquisition by an infamous Egyptian real estate tycoon, Hisham Talaat Moustafa, and two powerful Emirati conglomerates.

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Tui investors vote to leave London Stock Exchange amid record results

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More than 98% of shareholders in Europe’s biggest travel operator vote to delist in favour of Germany

Tui, Europe’s biggest travel company, is abandoning the London Stock Exchange in favour of listing its shares solely in Germany.

A vote on Tuesday resulted in 98.35% of shareholders backing a company proposal to drop its UK listing, in what will be seen as the latest blow to London’s standing in international finance.

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Why Home Office visa plans will be ‘nail in the coffin’ for UK hospitality

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Rise in salary requirements will further fuel staff shortages in industry that relies on skilled migrant workers

• Business live – latest updates

What do you call an Italian restaurant that doesn’t serve pizza?

During the 2022 Edinburgh fringe, Gusto’s restaurant in the city sounded like the punchline to one of the comedy festival’s jokes.

There’s a threshold at which it becomes impossible to make money, so you have to put prices up, which drives inflation, which flies in the face of what the government say they’re trying to do,” says Snell.

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Britons cut back on dining out and buying clothes, Barclays reveals

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Annual card spending report says consumers are prioritising travel and nights out and buying value-range groceries amid cost of living crisis

Hard-pressed consumers cut back on eating out and buying new clothes to prioritise spending on travel, entertainment and a visit to the pub over the past year, as soaring inflation and rising bills sharply curtailed the rate of spending growth.

Consumer card spending increased by 4.1% year-on-year in 2023, almost two-thirds lower than the 10.6% rise in 2022, as the sharp increase in the cost of living took its toll on households.

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Tasmanian pub posts job ad appealing to ‘alcoholics’ and those with ‘police record’

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Weldborough hotel, ‘desperate’ for staff, is swamped with applicants after unusual advertisement on its Facebook page

A rural pub in Tasmania has turned its struggle to employ staff into satire – and has found itself bombarded with applicants after posting an unusual job ad.

Weldborough hotel, which is based four hours out of Hobart, posted a job listing on its Facebook page. The job ad called for kitchen and front-of-house staff, and noted that it did not matter if applicants had a police record, drug habit or alcoholic problem as the hotel was “desperate”.

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Wetherspoon’s returns to profit for first time since Covid pandemic

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Cost of living crisis drives consumers to low-cost pub chain but company remains cautious

JD Wetherspoon has bounced back to profit for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago, as budget-conscious consumers flocked to the low-cost pub chain amid the cost of living crisis.

Wetherspoon’s, which runs about 830 pubs across the UK and Ireland, reported a pre-tax profit of almost £43m in the year to 30 July.

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England fans to splash out on food, drink and TVs for Women’s World Cup final

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Supermarkets, pubs and advertisers the winners as supporters prepare for match against Spain

Supermarkets, pubs and TV advertisers are preparing to enjoy a bumper weekend as football fans rush to celebrate the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday morning.

As many as 13.7 million people are expected to tune in when the Lionesses take on Spain in the highly anticipated fixture in Australia – the first time a senior England football team has appeared in a World Cup final since 1966.

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Jamie and Jools Oliver pay themselves almost £7m in dividends

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Payout for 2022 up from £5.6m a year before, as income bounces back after collapse of UK restaurant empire

Jamie Oliver and his wife, Jools, have paid themselves £6.8m in dividends, up from £5.6m a year before, after a bounceback in television and restaurant income.

The celebrity chef, whose UK restaurant empire collapsed in 2019 with the loss of 1,000 jobs, has 70 restaurants around the world run by franchise partners and has sold 2m books spun out from last year’s TV series Jamie’s One-Pan Wonders.

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Thousands of hotel workers in LA area begin strike for better pay and benefits

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As the tourist season is taking off, workers walked off the job at more than 60 hotels for higher pay and better benefits

Thousands of hotel workers in southern California walked off the job on Sunday, as the Fourth of July extended holiday weekend begins, demanding higher pay and better benefits in what their union is calling the largest strike in its history.

Cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen and front desk agents at hotels were picketing outside major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties just as the summer tourist season is ramping up.

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