News
The latest industry news from the business journalists at Catering Today. We bring you the latest on what’s happening in the restaurants, bars and catering industry, with exclusive stories, analysis, best practice and industry comment.
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Feb- 2021 -15 February
Brighton Pier Group receives £1.4m payout from insurers
The Brighton Pier Group has announced that to date, it has received interim payments from its insurers totalling £1.4m in respect of Covid-related losses. The group, which owns and operates Brighton Palace Pier as well as indoor mini-golf sites and premium bars, had previously lodged claims with its insurers for…
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15 February
Deliveroo calls for rerun of EOTHO scheme
Deliveroo and 300 restaurant groups have urged the government to reimplement the Eat Out to Help Out scheme (EOTHO) when the hospitality sector eventually reopens. According to the delivery service, the 50% discount scheme which was first launched last August by chancellor Rishi Sunak would help support struggling restaurants that…
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15 February
Court files show Grant Thornton’s alleged Patisserie Valerie audit errors
FRP Advisory, the liquidator to Patisserie Valerie, has filed legal documents describing Grant Thornton’s alleged errors in its auditing of the cafe chain. According to the Sunday Times, FRP claims that Grant Thornton’s “negligence” led Patisserie Valerie’s bosses to unknowingly allow the firm to run out of funds after undisclosed…
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12 February
Scottish hospitality has <1% infection rate among staff, says SHG
Members of the Scottish Hospitality Group, who employ over 6000 people, have revealed that there have been only 32 positive cases of Covid-19 among staff since July. The group said eight of those were between July and October – the period before the Scottish tier system was introduced and in…
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12 February
UK suffers record 9.9% GDP slump
GDP declined by 9.9% in 2020, a figure which is more than double of what was recorded in 2009 after the UK’s financial crisis. According to the ONS, the fall was largely due to restrictions which were in place for most of the year, forcing the economy to operate at limiting trading levels. Figures…
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12 February
Mitchells and Butlers pub branch announces permanent closure
A Mitchells and Butlers (M&B) pub, in Didsbury Manchester has announced that it will be permanently closing, as ongoing restrictions continue to take a toll on the hospitality sector. In a social media post owners of The Stoker’s Arms stated that due to “circumstances outside of their control” the pub…
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12 February
Wine Drinkers UK calls for excise duty cuts
Wine Drinkers UK (WDUK) has written an open letter to the chancellor calling for a reduction to the UK’s wine tax. The group claims that wine has been singled out for excessive increases to wine duty, while other alcoholic beverages such as beer and spirits have seen successive duty freezes.…
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11 February
Uber sees food-delivery revenues double in Q4
Uber has announced that its food delivery platform has experienced a 224% year-on-year revenue increase for Q4 2020. Despite the £984m in global revenues, the firm’s delivery arm posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of £105m for the period. While Uber’s delivery business did experience losses during the quarter, these had…
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11 February
Sri Lankan restaurant The Coconut Tree to open its seventh site
Sri Lankan street food restaurant group The Coconut Tree has announced plans to open a seventh site in Bath. The seventh site – which will join branches in Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford, Cheltenham and Bournemouth – is on track to open at 36 Broad Street in late Spring. The Coconut Tree…
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11 February
Platinum abandons Marston’s takeover
Platinum Equity, a US-based private equity firm, has confirmed that it will no longer move forward with a proposed takeover of Marston’s, after the pub group “unanimously rejected” its proposal earlier this month. Last month, Marston’s confirmed that Platinum put forward an unsolicited, non-binding proposal of a possible cash bid…
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