Disposable Income

Reporting on how changes in consumer spending power are influencing footfall, pricing strategy, and menu engineering across UK restaurants, pubs, cafes, and catering operations. This section explores the impact of inflation, interest rates, and household budgets on dining habits, helping operators anticipate shifts in demand, adapt promotional strategies, and plan for trading conditions shaped by fluctuations in economic confidence and discretionary spend.

Jan- 2023 -

11 January

Pubs and Bars

Nightcap hails ‘record’ Q2 results despite rail strikes

Nightcap has welcomed “record” trading in its latest quarter, with revenues up by 60.9% to £12.9m and like-for-like sales up by 4.7%, despite rail strikes impacting hospitality over the period. Group revenue for the month of December 2022 was £5.9m, a 71.8% increase compared to the £3.4m reported in December…
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Sep- 2022 -

22 September

Restaurants

Comptoir H1 profits surge 150% to £11.5m

Comptoir Group, the owner and/or operator of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean restaurants, has announced its profits surged 150% to £11.5m for the six-month period ended 3 July 2022 (H1 FY22), compared to £4.6m in H1 FY21. Group revenues also jumped 158.9% to £14.5m, compared to £5.6m in the comparable period…
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May- 2022 -

10 May

Food and Drink

Foodservice Price Index hits record high as supply issues mount

Year-on-year inflation in the foodservice sector hit 13.6% in March 2022 due to the impacts of the war on Ukraine on key food commodities, according to CGA and Prestige Purchasing. The figure is the highest in the history of CGA’s Prestige Foodservice Price Index, and continues a surge in prices…
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Mar- 2022 -

30 March

Features

Sunak’s Spring Statement: What it means

“Businesses are going to be incredibly challenged to sustain themselves, having just begun some recovery after Covid,” reveals Lionel Benjamin, co-founder of AGO Hotels. The hospitality industry was already “decimated” by the Covid-19 pandemic and now, following Sunak’s announcement, the sector is being further burdened with VAT rates going back…
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Feb- 2022 -

4 February

Pubs and Bars

Drinks sales see ‘modest’ revival following end to Plan B

Out-of-home drinks sales welcomed a “modest revival” last week after Plan B restrictions were lifted across the UK, according to the CGA’s latest Drinks Recovery Tracker. It found that average drinks sales by value in Britain’s managed pubs, bars and restaurants in the week to 29 January were only 8%…
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Nov- 2021 -

8 November

Pubs and Bars

On Premise footfall builds in Ireland and NI, CGA finds

CGA’s August On Premise Measurement Service (OPUS) data research revealed that “footfall is building” in Ireland and Northern Ireland as 80% of people had been back to venues after restrictions on indoor eating and drinking were eased in July. The research, drawing on a survey of around 2,500 nationally representative…
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Jun- 2021 -

29 June

Restaurants

Tasty sees takeaway and delivery sales ‘perform well’

Tasty, the operator of restaurants in the casual dining sector, has revealed that for the six-week period to 27 June 2021, takeaway and delivery sales “performed well” during the most recent lockdown. Following the easing of lockdown restrictions on 17 May 2021, most of the company’s estate reopened, with 49…
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May- 2020 -

13 May

Comment

Five ways restaurants can adapt to survive the post-lockdown uncertainty

It’s boom or bust time for restaurants. Even as lockdown starts to lift, there will be a core audience of avid restaurant goers who are either too nervous to eat out, or advised not to. And, with social distancing measures set to remain in place for an unknown period, it…
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Sep- 2018 -

21 September

Opinion

Brexit, inflation and coffee: what does the future hold?

It’s fair to say that the news at the moment is pretty bleak. A US president who seems hell bent on insulting every person or group he comes into contact with, a hefty divorce bill from the EU and a depressing economic outlook – at the moment, it feels that there is…
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Jun- 2018 -

27 June

Features

A changing appetite for craft beer

Once upon a time, beer drinkers consumed hoppy lagers, strong ales, stouts and wheat beers, but in the last half a century, the consumer has jettisoned these flavours for a lighter style of lager, with Budweiser retaining the title as the UK’s favourite. However, the past few years have witnessed…
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