Business

Independent drinks company Global Brands said it was “bucking industry trends” as it reported a second consecutive year of on-trade growth for its flagship ready to drink (RTD) brand VK. According to CGA data, on-trade value sales of VK have increased by 16% since 2016, while volumes have grown 12%…

Karaoke has a “significant positive influence” in attracting people to restaurants and bars, encouraging them to stay longer and resulting in increased sales, a study by Aalto University has revealed. Singa, Helsinki-based entertainment software specialists, collaborated with the university to conduct the research into the power of karaoke which has…

Frankie and Benny’s and Chiquito owner, The Restaurant Group (TRG) has put nine of its restaurants up for sale following the successful sale of 31 of its restaurants. International real estate advisor Savills has been instructed to sell its former sites in England and Scotland. The units are available on…

City Pub Group’s sales are up 24% to £16.1m for the 26 weeks to 1 July 2018, as the group focused on wet-led sales and increased its portfolio. The pub company has saw its adjusted EBITDA increase by 25% increase to £3m compared with £2.4m in 2017. Its adjusted profit…

American food delivery and ride share company Uber is reportedly looking at purchasing UK-based delivery firm Deliveroo. Deliveroo was recently valued at just over £2bn and according to a Bloomberg report, sources close to the companies say the deal could be worth “several billion dollars”. The interest comes as Uber…

The food-to-go market has become one of the fastest growing segments of Britain’s out-of-home (OOH) foodservice industry, as Britons increasingly eat pre-prepared food and drink on-the-go. Latest figures from global information company, The NPD Group, showed that off-premise consumption (excluding delivery and drive thru) was growing while on-premise was shrinking.…

Deliveroo has announced that it will relaunch its revamped corporate offering, ‘Deliveroo for Business’, with aims to provide food delivery services to over 7,000 corporate customers in 15 minutes. The service, which launched in September 2016, is being extended with the addition of new features and services. Deliveroo said it…

Star Pubs & Bars has appointed a dedicated wine category buyer, Roberta Neave, to increase the company’s category support to licensees and to broaden and upgrade its wine range. Neave was formerly employed by Tesco as a wine buyer and part of her remit with Star is to make it…

The Boot pub in Freston, Suffolk has claimed to be the first traditional pub in Britain to go cashless. The pub only accepts payments by card or phone, there is no minimum spend and the landlord claimed its decision to go cashless had “pipped [London] to the post”. The Boot,…

Britain’s managed pub and restaurant groups saw collective like-for-like sales edge up 0.6% in August, latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker show. Managed pubs saw collective like-for-likes grow 0.2% against August last year, while restaurant groups were up 1.4% for the month. This showed a recovery from June…