Restaurants
The Restaurants section on Catering Today delivers comprehensive coverage of the UK restaurant industry, from independent operators to national chains. It reports on business performance, openings, acquisitions, and leadership changes, alongside analysis of market trends, menu innovation, and consumer behaviour. With insight into finance, operations, technology, and sustainability, Catering Today provides hospitality professionals with the intelligence and updates shaping commercial strategy across the UK dining landscape.
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Sep- 2018 -17 September
Helena Puolakka named executive chef at Skylon
D&D London has appointed Helena Puolakka as executive chef of modern European restaurant, Skylon on Southbank. She is currently the chef patron at Aster restaurant located in Nova Victoria, London and her new appointment will see Puolakka expand her role and take the helm at two restaurants in the capital…
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17 September
Restaurant sales recover as holiday season boosts eating-out market
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…
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14 September
Xiabu Xiabu chain loses £145m after dead rat found in pregnant women’s soup
Chinese restaurant chain Xiabu Xiabu has lost £145m in market value since a pregnant woman found a rat in her soup at a branch in Weifang, China. After video footage of the woman fishing the dead rat out of her soup went viral, the Weifang restaurant was temporarily shut down…
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14 September
Corbin & King to open ninth restaurant in 2019
Hospitality group Corbin and King will be opening its new restaurant Soutine on St John’s Wood High Street, London at the beginning of 2019. Soutine will become the ninth opening for Corbin and King, following the recently launched Café Wolseley at Bicester Village. The new site will take inspiration from…
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12 September
Soho’s Vinoteca Restaurant closes due to rent increases and licencing restrictions
Vinoteca Restaurant in Soho has announced it is to close due to rent increases and licencing restrictions in the area. The restaurant’s other branches in Farringdon, Marylebone, Bloomberg Arcade and Chiswick will remain open. Charlie Young, co-founder and director at Vinoteca, said: “Although it’s true that the rent has increased…
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11 September
Hawker Union street food concept closes after 12 weeks
Hawker Union, the street food and bar concept by Street Feast, is set to close just 12 weeks after it opened in Wood Green, London. On Twitter, co-founder Jonathan Downey said Haringey council were “deliberately difficult” and claimed they tried “very hard” to stop the venue from opening which had…
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11 September
Number of licensed F&B businesses drops by 3000 in a year
Britain has 3,116 fewer restaurants, pubs, bars and other licensed premises than 12 months ago, according to the latest Market Growth Monitor, from CGA and AlixPartners. The report showed there were 119,800 licensed sites across the country in June 2018 – a fall of 2.5% since June 2017. On average,…
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11 September
Pizza Express to introduce vegan soya milk in its restaurants
Pizza Express has announced it will launch vegan soya milk in partnership with the Animal Aid charity. The milk will be available from 18 September when Pizza Express will add several new items to its menu including chicken wings, along with the addition of an entirely separate vegan menu. The…
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10 September
Tommy Heaney to open new Pontcanna restaurant
Great British Menu chef Tommy Heaney is to open a new restaurant named Heaney’s in Pontcanna, Wales. The Great British Menu chef will open the 50-cover restaurant on 10 October after successfully raising £40,000 via a Kickstarter page. The restaurant will also feature a bar area with custom-made decor with…
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10 September
Padella faces vegan and vegetarian ‘backlash’ over Instagram post
Padella based in London’s Borough Market has faced a vegan and vegetarian backlash over an Instagram post which showed a dead grouse alongside a knife with the caption “Grouse soon to be ragu”. In the image the grouse is placed on a red chopping board with visible blood with the…
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