Pub and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers lauds sales rise but warns of risks ahead
The All Bar One owner, Mitchells & Butlers, has lauded recent encouraging sales at the pub and restaurant group but warned that risks from rising food and energy costs lie ahead.
The hospitality chain, which also owns Toby Carvery and Harvester, told shareholders on Wednesday that like-for-like sales had increased by 6.5% since the end of its latest financial year in late September.
Continue reading...Under Victoria’s wage theft laws the Macedon Lounge owner could be jailed if found guilty
A Victorian restaurant faces a potential fine of more than $1m and jail time for its owner, in an Australian-first wage theft case brought over allegations it underpaid workers by thousands of dollars.
The Wage Inspectorate Victoria has deployed the first criminal wage theft charges in Australia, filing a combined 94 against the Macedon Lounge, north-west of Melbourne, and its “officer”.
Continue reading...Closures rise by 60% in past year, including 453 in most recent quarter, says advisory firm Mazars
UK restaurants are going bust at a faster rate than during the Covid crisis owing to a “toxic mix” of surging energy costs, staff shortages and falling bookings.
Closures in the sector rose by 60%, with 1,567 insolvencies over 2021-22, up from 984 during 2020-21, according to a study by the advisory firm Mazars. The figure includes 453 over the past three months, up from 395 in the previous quarter.
Continue reading...Chefs are hoping the concept will tempt diners to spend a little more and fight the cost-of-living crisis
Linden Stores, in the Cheshire village of Audlem, has started a whole sharing menu of modern British food, with two people sharing seven dishes including charred pepper and Cornish Quartz cheddar croquettes, hake wrapped in wild boar pancetta and chocolate and peanut butter tart.
Laura Christie and her partner, Chris Boustead, relocated the restaurant to the village from London in 2020. She has been surprised by the reaction.
Continue reading...Videos appear to show guests rushing to locked gates as strict Covid restrictions return across China
Visitors to Shanghai’s Disney resort were trapped inside for the second time in 12 months after authorities and operators announced a sudden lockdown as part of China’s strict pandemic response.
In a repeat of scenes from across Covid-zero China, viral videos on Monday appeared to show guests rushing to the locked gates of the theme park in an attempt to escape the lockdown. It followed extraordinary scenes on the weekend, with a mass escape of employees from a locked-down Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, to walk up to hundreds of kilometres to their hometowns.
Continue reading...Pubs, restaurants and hotels threatened by energy bills and food price inflation, survey finds
More than a third of UK hospitality businesses, including pubs, restaurants and hotels, could go bust by early next year as energy bills surge and bookings fall, according to a new survey.
With nearly all businesses saying they face higher energy costs and food price inflation, 35% of respondents to a quarterly hospitality industry survey said they expected to be operating at a loss or to be unable to continue trading by the end of the year.
Continue reading...Nusret Gökçe’s ‘ludicrous’ Nusr-Et Steakhouse charges more than £600 for a tomahawk steak
The London restaurant of Salt Bae, a flamboyant, condiment-sprinkling chef, has reported £7m in sales in its first three months.
Nusr-Et Steakhouse, the outlet at the Park Tower hotel in Knightsbridge known for outrageously priced items such as tomahawk steaks wrapped in gold, also made pre-tax profits of £2.3m in the year to December having only opened its doors in late September, according to accounts filed at Companies House first reported by The National.
Continue reading...Meanwhile £700m of support funds in business rates relief remains unpaid by local councils
Debt repayments, staff shortages and rising energy bills have pushed almost two-thirds of the UK’s top 100 restaurants into the red, according to research that reveals the impact of the pandemic, Brexit and the cost of living crisis on the hospitality sector.
With a recession looming and further increases in energy bills weighing on businesses, a separate report found that £700m of business rates relief remains unpaid with only half of English councils paying out the support funds.
Continue reading...RMT union leaders say ‘no viable’ deals are on the table and walkout is set to go ahead, hitting tourism, sport and festivals
Network Rail bosses say they plan to hold more talks with union leaders today in a last-ditch attempt to avert the biggest strike on the railways for more than three decades.
More than 40,000 rail workers are due to walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Only about half of Britain’s rail network will be open on strike days with a very limited service on lines which are open.
Continue reading...Marston’s phases out ‘two-for-one’ meal offer while Mitchells & Butlers increases prices to cope with rising costs of utilities, wages and food
Two of Britain’s largest pub groups have warned that punters may have to pay more for a meal and see fewer discounts on the menu as they struggle to absorb rising energy and food costs.
The pub and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers, which runs pub chains including O’Neill’s and restaurant brands such as Harvester, said it was facing a difficult trading environment. Its rival Marston’s said it was working to mitigate inflationary rises through a combination of cost-cutting and “pricing strategies”.
Continue reading...Staff shortages, delays and rising prices are playing havoc with the healthcare, education, farming, hospitality and travel sectors
Although the UK no longer faces the threat of lockdowns or intensive care units being imminently overrun, coronavirus is still disrupting much of society and the economy.
As Britain learns to live with Covid, the virus is still playing havoc with our daily lives, and these difficulties have been compounded by post-Brexit chaos in some in sectors.
Continue reading...Workers took action after share of tips paid on credit and debit cards was cut from 70% to 50% in 2021
Pizza Express waiting staff have won back a bigger slice of their tips after a year-long campaign against a change that handed more to kitchen staff.
The restaurant workers were forced to take action after their share of tips and service charges paid on credit and debit cards was cut from 70% to 50% last year at a time when pay was already under pressure from social-distancing measures that limited the number of diners.
Continue reading...Hospitality, manufacturing and haulage sectors say spring statement falls far short of the help needed
The spring statement did not deliver much to help Lesters, a small but growing packaging company struggling with rising costs.
The Staffordshire-based firm’s energy bills will rise from £7,000 a month to £18,000 when the current contract runs out. Speaking after Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, Lesters’ managing director, Billy Hutchinson, said the chancellor had offered nothing to help on this key issue.
Continue reading...Epidemiologists say calls by business to relax mask rules as case numbers escalate is ‘down the rabbit hole thinking’
Victorian business leaders pushing to scrap mask mandates for hospitality and retail workers are “clearly not following the trend” in rising cases, according to epidemiologists who say now is not the time to relax rules.
The state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, on Thursday rejected a push from the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Retailers Association and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who told the Herald Sun they wanted national consistency on mask mandates and warned workers could leave the sectors for other jobs.
Continue reading...Many welcome the change as a ‘return to normalcy’ that will support restaurants and bars, but others worry it’s too soon
Tyler Hollinger, owner of Festivál Cafe, a “farm-to-bar cocktail cafe” in New York City, said he recently started learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu because of physical altercations with visitors who are unvaccinated against Covid-19.
The reason for the fights isn’t that Hollinger is a crusader for the city’s requirement that people show proof of vaccination to sit inside at bars and restaurants.
Continue reading...Announcement that there will be no new restrictions in England before new year puts it at odds with rest of UK
Ministers have confirmed that no new Covid-19 restrictions will be imposed in England before the new year.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told reporters there will be “no further measures before the new year”, adding: “Of course people should remain cautious as we approach new year celebrations and take a lateral flow test if that makes sense, celebrate outdoors if you can, have some ventilation indoors if you can.”
Continue reading...The Nordic cafe chain is planning ambitious expansion in the UK and perhaps an IPO – if it can find the staff
Founded by a Danish karate champion, the smoothie chain Joe & the Juice has blitzed its way on to British high streets, where its pastel-pink outlets and drinks with names such as Sex Me Up have cut a distinctive dash.
Having grown from one juice bar in Copenhagen in 2002 to 300 outlets around the world, the chain is planning to double in size in the next few years, and is rumoured to be plotting a stock market listing.
Continue reading...Anas Zein Al-Abdeen owns a chain of four Middle Eastern coffee houses around Birmingham. But, the 40-year-old says, while customers are plentiful, staff are another matter
Anas Zein Al-Abdeen doesn’t want to close his business for three days a week – but, increasingly, it looks like his only option. He simply can’t get the staff. “It’s horrific,” he says. “We can’t plan for anything.”
The 40-year-old British-Syrian businessman runs Damascena, an independent chain of four Middle Eastern coffee houses in and around Birmingham. All of his cafes are affected, but the one in central Birmingham is the most short-staffed, with 25 workers instead of the usual 30. “It’s very stressful,” he says. “Most businesses worry about getting customers. But I’m just worried if we can serve them or not.”
Continue reading...Customer-facing workers in all sectors report greater hostility, research shows
People in public-facing jobs are facing rising hostility and verbal abuse since the end of the Covid lockdowns, according to organisations which represent them. Half of all shop, transport, restaurant and hotel workers and others dealing regularly with the public have experienced abuse in the past six months, figures from the Institute for Customer Service (ICS) show. This is a 6% rise over May’s 44%. Of those who had been abused, 27% had been physically attacked, it found.
The research comes as trades unions and industry bodies warn of growing public hostility towards workers since Covid’s second wave.
Continue reading...Trade body says one in five businesses had to close or cut hours last month for lack of security staff
Nightclubs are suffering from a growing shortage of bouncers, in the latest staffing squeeze to hit the UK’s economic recovery, with some estimates suggesting venues are having to pay security staff as much as 25% more.
The lack of security personnel comes at a time when hospitality businesses are being hit by a cocktail of rising costs and are trying to rebound from months of closures during the pandemic.
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