Sales

This section brings together all our editorial coverage related to sales performance, revenue growth, and commercial strategy across the UK foodservice sector. From quarterly trading updates and like-for-like sales trends to group-level reporting and market analysis, we provide restaurant operators, pub groups, catering firms, and F&B executives with timely insights into what’s driving turnover, and what’s dragging it down. Whether you manage a single site or a national portfolio, our sales reporting is geared to help hospitality leaders benchmark performance, identify consumer trends, and shape strategies that drive sustainable growth in a volatile trading environment.

Apr- 2020 -

30 April

Coronavirus

JD Wetherspoon targets June reopening

JD Wetherspoon has stated its intention to reopen the group’s pubs and hotels “in or around” June despite the ongoing nationwide lockdown. It comes one day after McDonald’s said it will begin operational trials for a “potential and limited reopening”, though JD Wetherspoon has not yet outlined how it plans…
Read More »
29 April

Business Bites

The aviation industry is now in very serious trouble

In a sign of just how distressed the aviation industry is, British Airways has announced plans to lay off 30% of its workforce, or about 12,000 employees, and says it expects it to take several years before passenger volumes return to 2019 levels. The chief executive, Alex Cruz, wrote to…
Read More »
28 April

Business Bites

Job support to be wound down, M&S dividend suspended, ventilator production slows, property market halts

Chancellor Rishi Sunack says he will wean the economy off his support schemes in a “gradual” wind-down, to help prevent soaring unemployment on ‘expiration day’. His announcement, made to MPs, came in response to concerns that a definite cut-off date would produce an explosion in redundancies and layoffs. Currently, the…
Read More »
22 April

Comment

‘It hit us like a tidal wave’: A story of success in a time of crisis

Hospitality is facing an unprecedented battle. Merely months ago, coronavirus was a geographically distant crisis, and few predicted the tsunami it would bring to every corner of the world. Within a matter of weeks, life as we know it has come to a screeching halt, with all sense of normality…
Read More »
21 April

Comment

Helping small hospitality businesses in the age of coronavirus

A few weeks ago we started LocalSmallBusinesses.co.uk, a platform to generate cash flow for independent London businesses by offering services for future use. Allowing loyal customers to support their favourite places so that when this nightmare is over London remains the exciting and diverse city we all love. Many small…
Read More »
17 April

Coronavirus

Restaurant, pub and bar sales nosedive 60% in March

Collective like-for-like sales tumbled 57.6% in March amongst the pub, restaurant and bar sector as the nationwide lockdown began, according to the latest Coffer Peach Business Tracker. According to its data, the entire sector was “hit hard”, with a slowdown in sales, which started in February, continuing over the first…
Read More »
16 April

Coronavirus

Mitchells and Butlers furloughs 99% of staff

Mitchells and Butlers announced it has furloughed 99% of its workforce in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came as the leading operator of managed restaurants and pubs, including Harvester, Toby Carvery, All Bar One and Miller and Carter, announced a series of measures to reduce its cost…
Read More »
15 April

Restaurants

UK demand for Chinese takeaway almost quadruples as lockdown continues

Orders of Chinese takeaways have nearly quadrupled in the UK over the last four weeks, according to Flipdish, the online ordering system for restaurants and takeaways. Demand has increased by 272%, only beaten by Indian food which has surged 294% in the last month with Pakora being the most popular…
Read More »
14 April

Coronavirus

Revolution raises credit facility

Revolution Bars has announced that it will increase its revolving credit facility to £30m following an agreement with NatWest. This will last until 31 August, when it will decrease to £24m as the group “begins to benefit from its normal positive working capital cycle” following the predicted easing of lockdown…
Read More »
8 April

Business

Average UK SME does not have enough cash to cover debts due in 2021, says UHY

The average UK SME does not have enough cash to cover debts due in the next year, according to new research from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young. The firm’s analysis of the balance sheets of more than 13,500 SMEs in the UK showed that the average SME now has only…
Read More »