Casual Dining
We report on the business of casual dining, a key segment of the UK foodservice sector encompassing high-street restaurant brands, all-day dining concepts, and accessible, mid-market hospitality. This includes our coverage of openings, closures, financial results, menu innovation, tech integration, and leadership moves across the casual dining space. Whether you’re managing a national chain or operating a regional brand, we deliver timely insight into the pressures, pivots, and opportunities shaping this highly competitive market, with a focus on operational performance, consumer trends, and commercial sustainability.
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Mar- 2021 -2 MarchVenues & Properties
Japan Centre to expand flagship London site
Japanese food hall, Japan Centre, has announced plans for a 7,000 sq ft expansion to its flagship London site in mid-March. Founded in 1976, the food hall located on Panton Street currently offers a range of over 3,000 products spanning food, drink, and lifestyle. The group will extend its ground…
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1 MarchPubs and Bars
30 licensed premises closed a day in 2020
Nearly 12,000 licensed premises have closed in Britain since December 2019, an average of around 30 a day and the highest rate on record, according to research from the new edition CGA and AlixPartners. While 4,170 new sites have been recorded since December 2019, the loss of 11,894 venues means…
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Feb- 2021 -10 FebruaryRestaurants
Big Table Group agrees deal with Centre Parcs restaurants
continued demand for our Bella Italia, Café Rouge and Las Iguanas brands in high volume, high quality locations. “Alongside this, the deal is testament to the commitment each of our restaurants have to delivering fantastic dining experiences to Center Parcs’ guests and the significant investment will ensure that we can…
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8 FebruaryFeatures
How Britain’s top fast food chains coped during Covid
It has been a rough year for the hospitality industry. According to the CCA’s ‘Market Recovery Monitor’ for 2020, almost 10,000 licensed premises – including pubs, clubs and restaurants – closed permanently as a result of its impact and the continuous wave of lockdowns. This represents a net decline of…
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Jan- 2021 -21 JanuaryCoronavirus
Dining Street Limited calls in administrators
Dining Street Limited has fallen into administration resulting in 147 staff redundancies. The restaurant group, which operated under brands such as Richoux, Zintino, Friendly Phil’s, and The Broadwick, has cited “ongoing uncertainty” surrounding Covid-19 as the reason for its collapse. All of the company’s restaurants have been operating under limited…
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21 JanuaryPubs and Bars
Anand raises £200m for pub sector spending spree
Rooney Anand, the former chief executive at Greene King, has raised £200m to invest in the UK’s faltering pubs sector, Sky News has revealed. The investment is likely to come in a series of acquisitions in the coming months, in a bet on an industry-wide post-pandemic recovery. While sources told…
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4 JanuaryCoronavirus
Pandemic fuels 30,000 restaurant job losses
Almost 30,000 job losses were recorded by the UK’s restaurant and casual dining firms in 2020, according to data compiled by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). The research also found that redundancies in the industry spiked 163% as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions. The job…
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Dec- 2020 -21 DecemberNews
Leon CVA receives creditor approval
Leon has announced its CVA proposal will go ahead after it received 90% approval from its creditors. The restaurant chain which was founded in 2004 and has gone on to operate 75 sites globally both owned and franchised with 44 based in the UK in prime locations and transport hubs,…
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8 DecemberRestaurants
Barburrito secures future with sale to co-founders
Barburrito, the Mexican eatery, has secured its future through an administration sale securing new investment in the business. Barburrito chairman Graham Turner leads a new investment in the business, alongside other private investors, backing the existing management team of Morgan Davies, founder and CEO and Steve Herring, finance director. The…
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Nov- 2020 -25 NovemberRestaurants
Bird announces five-year expansion plan
Bird Restaurants has announced an “ambitious expansion plan” with several new site launches planned for early 2021. News of the expansion closely follows the appointment of the group’s new managing director, Andrew Clover. The fried chicken and waffles chain currently has a range of sites across London, including Brixton, Westfield,…
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