Bonds

Loungefest: the day hospitality pauses to party

Ragley Hall was responsible for hosting “the biggest bash in hospitality” – Loungefest 2025 – earlier this month. By mid-morning, coaches carrying Lounge’s whole staff had begun arriving from Durham, Southampton, West Wales, and nearly every town in between. For all of Loungers’ people to participate, nearly 300 venues –…

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Compass raises more than £680m for net zero ambitions

Compass Group, a global food services company, has issued two sustainable bonds which will be used to fund its global net zero target. The bonds have raised £433m and £250m respectively and will be used to progress Compass’ sustainability initiatives. In October 2021, Compass became the first international company in…

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Foraging for beginners – and chefs of luxury hotels!

When we think about foraging food, more often than not, it conjures up images of searching for food that is in short supply in the wild . We certainly don’t associate it with luxury. But foraging can be an invaluable tactic in the playbook of hospitality businesses catering to large,…

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Just Eat sees 2020 revenues soar 54%

Just Eat Takeaway.com (Just Eat) has revealed total group revenues of £2.06bn for the year ended 31 December 2020, a year-on-year growth of 54%. Adjusted EBITDA for the period also increased from £185.9m in 2019 to £256m in 2020, a jump of 18% for the year. As for the group’s…

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UKH warns hospitality sector at ‘rent tipping point’

UKHospitality has warned that the sector is on a countdown to a “rent tipping-point” that will trigger a new year of hospitality business failures and potentially hundreds of thousands more jobs lost. The government has reportedly so far shielded businesses from eviction and the “aggressive enforcement activity” by landlords over…

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Gategroup announces financial restructuring

Gategroup Holdings has announced that its shareholders, RRJ Capital and Temasek, and all bank lenders have reached a principle agreement to support a “comprehensive restructuring of the group’s financial indebtedness”. The catering company said the proposed transaction will reportedly provide the group with “significant new liquidity” to address the company’s…

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Pizza Express to reopen 150 more UK sites

Pizza Express has announced it is to reopen 150 more UK sites by early August. Some 71 restaurants will reopen for dine-in experience and dine-out services on 30 July  and an additional 88 on 6 August. These next phases of Pizza Express’ reopening plan follow “test and learn” trials of…

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Chilango set to call in administrators

Mexican fast food chain Chilango is reportedly set to call in administrators, potentially putting 152 jobs at risk of redundancy. According to The Guardian, the move could lead to the closure of Chilango’s 12 restaurants located in London, Manchester and Birmingham. Further to this, investors who contributed to the group’s…

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Pizza Express set to fall into hands of its lenders

Pizza Express is reportedly set to fall into the hands of its lenders, possibly as early as this month, which could lead to the possibility of store closures. According to the Financial Times, its lenders are in talks with its Chinese owners Hony Capital for a debt-for equity swap with…

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Coping with coronavirus in catering

My name is Ren. My catering company, Rens Kitchen, has been trading 12 years now, specialising in bespoke weddings. The best part about my job has always been the personal bonds my team and I create with our couples over the whole planning process, and by the wedding day we…

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