Recession
Essential coverage on how economic downturns and financial pressures are affecting foodservice and hospitality businesses across the UK. This section explores rising costs, shifting consumer behaviour, staff retention challenges, and the operational strategies that restaurants, pubs, bars, and caterers are adopting to protect margins, manage demand, and maintain resilience. From pricing decisions and menu engineering to supplier negotiations and business model adaptation, the insights here support leaders navigating uncertainty in a volatile market.
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Aug- 2024 -28 AugustCatering Companies
Contract caterers achieve 10% sales growth in Q2
Contract caterers saw sales rise by 10% in Q2, marking its 13th quarter of growth in a row and an improvement rate of 7% recorded in the first quarter of this year, according to CGA by NIQ and Bidfood. Meanwhile, growth in moving annual total (MAT) sales – compared to…
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May- 2024 -22 MayNews
Food and Beverage M&A activity reaches highest deal volume since 2016
M&A in the UK food and beverage sector reached its highest deal volume since T1 2016 according to the new UK Food and Beverage Sector M&A report by Oghma Partners. For the first four months of 2024, there has been an increase by 30.3% in the volume of deals (43…
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Feb- 2024 -22 FebruaryPeople
Hospitality confidence dips amid soaring costs
Some 41% of the UK’s top hospitality groups currently feel confident about the hospitality market over the next 12 months, down by 8% since October 2023, an exclusive poll by CGA by NIQ has reported. The proportion of leaders who feel optimistic about prospects for their own business in the…
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Jan- 2024 -15 JanuaryFeatures
Why are insolvencies more likely to affect the hospitality sector?
According to PwC’s outlook for 2024, there will be a significant rise in corporate insolvencies in 2024, just shy of 30,000 with smaller businesses accounting for the lion’s share. However, it further added that industries most impacted are likely to be hotels and catering, along with manufacturing, and transport and…
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Oct- 2023 -27 OctoberRestaurants
JKS Restaurants turnover doubles in FY22
The operator of Gymkhana, Hoppers, Sabor and Kitchen Table, JKS Restaurants, has revealed that turnover has almost doubled to £50m during FY22 ended 1 January 2023. The company, which is part of the group headed by Yum Midco Limited, also reported that for the period EBITDA reached £5.5m from £1m…
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3 OctoberBeverages
UK F&B M&A activity up 68.2% despite absence of higher market deals
UK Food and Beverage M&A activity has seen a 68.2% increase in the volume of deals (37 transactions) compared with the same period in the prior year, according to Oghma Partners’ Food and Beverage M&A report. Deal value has also increased by 49.1% to c. £400.0m compared with the same…
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Sep- 2023 -5 SeptemberRestaurants
Restaurant spending down in August, Barclays finds
Restaurant spending dropped by 5.8% in August after dropping 2.7% in July, according to new data from Barclays. According to the data, 61% of people surveyed stated that they had deprioritised eating at restaurants. Alongside this 58% of people stated that they were deprioritising spending on takeaways. Despite this spending…
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Jul- 2023 -17 JulyComment
Loans repayment, inflation, staff shortages: what else we can expect from hospitality insolvencies?
What are the potential reasons for the continued increase in the number of hospitality insolvencies we’ve seen recently? Glyn: I think it goes back to the pandemic. Covid was a big thing for the sector and rightly, both the government and HMRC stepped in to help companies with furlough and…
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Jun- 2023 -21 JuneComment
Discounts and freebies: what else can loyalty programmes offer?
Restaurateurs and bar owners will be well used to the concept of a customer loyalty programme. From the large chains with highly organised reward apps offering points and vouchers, to basic ‘loyalty stamp’ cards, there are many organisations in the field making use of customer loyalty to boost their footfall…
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Mar- 2023 -23 MarchNews
BoE raises interest rates to 4.25%
The Bank of England (BoE) has announced that interest rates will be raised by 0.25% to 4.25%, the highest rate in almost 15 years, following an unexpected rise in inflation last month. The move marks the 11th consecutive increase from the BoE and follows the jump in inflation to 10.4%…
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