Business

Purchasing group Equinoxe Solutions has appointed Mark Aylwin as its new chairman. Aylwin has been in the food and drinks industry for more than 35 years, having served on the Boards of Booker Group, Blueheath, Conviviality, Musgrave GB and Safeway. He has also made an equity investment in the business…

Britain’s pubs enjoyed a mini sales boom in June thanks to the hot weather and the start of the World Cup, the latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker have confirmed. While managed pub and bar groups saw collective like-for-like sales rise 2.8% against last June, restaurant groups suffered…

Crussh Fit Food & Juice Bars has announced the expansion of its partnership with Everyone Active Leisure Operator. The expansion comes off the back of a long-term partnership with Everyone Active in the Westway Sports Centre, which has seen the healthy food and juice chain open a second site at…

Over 20 UK restaurants and pubs including branches of KFC and Pizza Hut have been found to be underpaying workers in a list published this morning by HMRC. HMRC found that nearly 240 employers were found to be underpaying staff on the minimum wage, with many companies that employ caterers…

Chef Andrew Wong’s latest restaurant Kym’s is set to open its doors in London later this year in September. The new outlet will be located in Bloomberg Arcade, at Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in the City, with aims to be a modern premium casual Chinese restaurant with a relaxed and…

During England’s first World Cup match consumers spent 33% more in pubs compared with the week before, figures from Barclaycard show. The Barclaycard Consumer Spending Index showed customer spend in pubs for the month of June increased by 9.5% year-on-year. Entertainment spend proved to be strong for the month with…

Hugh Osmond’s eponymous Osmond Capital group is said to be one of three companies bidding for struggling steak chain Gaucho. Osmond is thought to have bid less than the £50m owed by Gaucho to its creditors, and according to Sky News, is competing with Core Capital and Limerston Capital for…

Over 200,000 businesses were taken to a Magistrates court for failing to pay for businesses rates under the first year of the new business rates revaluation, an investigation has revealed. Real estate advisor Altus Group collated information procured under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) from all councils in England.…

Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s has reported a pre-tax loss of £27.7m for the year ending 24 September 2017. Describing 2017 as a “challenging trading year”, the company attributed its decline in profits to increasing competition and costs. Turnover also declined by 2% to £138.2m. The chain’s EBITDA fell to £6.5m…

Whitbread is set to cull 250 management roles from its restaurants business in a bid to make the company more “efficient and effective”. It is understood that the decision has not been prompted by the company’s decision to demerge from Costa, which was announced in April. The decision to make…