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All Two for One articles
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NewsUK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls: ‘Government aware that rates system is broken’
The coronavirus crisis has shown Government that the business rates system is broken, and there is reason to be optimistic that significant reform may be on its way, The Conversation has heard.
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NewsUK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls: “Local lockdown” a misuse of terminology
The government’s proposed next stage of reactive, local lockdowns will not force full business closures, UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls has said.
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NewsLease forfeiture and debt enforcement moratorium extended
The lease forfeiture and debt enforcement moratorium has been extended to 30 Sept. It includes a ban on commercial rent arrears recovery, statutory demands and winding up petitions. A new Code of Practice to facilitate rent negotiations has also been released. The code encourages tenants to pay rent in full where they can but also acknowledges that landlords should provide support to those businesses unable to do so. The code has been developed with input from businesses leaders including UKHospitality.
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NewsWarehouse Project founder Sacha Lord: We won’t reopen until we can do it properly
Nightclub and live gig venues may be some of the last to reopen, but Greater Manchester’s night-time economy advisor Sacha Lord won’t be shifting his models to speed up the process.
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NewsJKS CEO Jyotin Sethi: Change of narrative needed to persuade people to go out
A change of narrative on the risks of coronavirus will be needed to persuade middle-ground consumers to visits restaurants and bars, JKS Restaurants CEO Jyotin Sethi has told MCA’s The Conversation.
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NewsSafety guidelines for hospitality could be “weeks” away
With just three weeks ago before the mooted 4 July deadline for reopening, Dominic Raab has warned hospitality it could take “weeks” for safety guidelines to be produced after the government ordered another review of existing social distancing measures. At the government’s daily briefing, Mark Andrews, from the Shropshire Star, asked about reducing the two metre rule down to one metre for the hospitality industry, what targets would need to be met and how close the government was to meeting them.
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NewsQuick decisions, please.
Like the Spice Girls, the industry needs two to become one. The two metre vs one metre debate is just one of the many challenges jostling away in the sector, but it has emerged as a central issue for the financial viability of many operators. As they have explicitly spelled out, a reduction from two to one could literally be the difference between reopening or staying shut. It’s not the only factor slowly extinguishing this vibrant sector, but the debate flared up again yesterday
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InterviewsAzzurri CEO Steve Holmes: Things are changing all the time
Do you remember what is was like to go to a restaurant and order a plate of spaghetti? I miss it hugely, and I’m just a hungry customer. So how does Azzurri CEO Steve Holmes, who runs 295 restaurants, feel about seeing his entire estate shut down? “It’s desperately sad, because we’ve made really strong progress over the last four years,” he says. “Zizzi’s NPS score moved up to number six, the highest ever. Ask was also racing up. We opened an Ask in Westfield just before everything closed and it was trading incredibly well.”
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NewsSnapshot: Discombobulating Fried Chicken at KFC
It’s been weeks since a state of lockdown was imposed on the UK and I suspect I’m not the only one missing the colonel. The news that KFC was reopening was a welcome relief. So I went, and as delicious as the food was, visiting a KFC during lockdown is a discombobulating experience.
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NewsChop’d to launch virtual vegan brand
Chop’d is to launch a virtual vegan brand through Deliveroo next Monday, called Vegan Delivered.
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OpinionSlim Chickens: ‘We now want to do a whole lot more’
The UK is not short of US-imported fast casual restaurant concepts – Five Guys, Wahlburgers, Shake Shack and Wingstop to name just a few contemporary examples.
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NewsCaffe Nero revamps food with deli range
Caffe Nero has introduced a new deli range in a major overhaul of its food offering.
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Analysis & InsightWine glass half empty?
MCA market insight director Steve Gotham discusses why wine is losing out to other alcohol categories and suggests that lack of innovation may be to blame.
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NewsThe Potting Shed Harrogate closes
The Potting Shed in Harrogate, the last opening under the Burning Night Group, has closed, MCA understands.
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NewsFrontier grows to nine pubs
Frontier Pubs, the Ei Group Managed Investment joint venture with Karen Jones’ Pioneer Hospitality, is to grow to nine pubs by Christmas.
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OpinionThe renaissance of the wet-led pub
Wet-led venues are emerging from the shadows of casual dining and gastropubs with buoyant sales and less exposure to headwinds. Investors are clearly taking note, with wet-led businesses at the centre of much of the sector’s M&A activity over the past year. Sapient Corporate Finance founder, Peter Hansen, explains why he sees this segment going from strength to strength.
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NewsMarston’s “will continue to land bank sites”
Marston’s chief executive Ralph Findlay has told MCA the group will continue to land bank sites despite revising down its growth targets for next year.
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News
Focus on: Marston’s Destination
Iain Jackson, who heads up Marston’s c350-strong Destination division spoke to MCA about the growth of the group’s Firebrand and Accent divisions and the scope he sees for further expansion. He also discussed how he has restructured his teams into smaller units that can react more swiftly to changing consumer trends, and the creation of a dedicated openings team, to follow sites through from acquisition to the handover to ops teams.
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News
Action against two-for-one junk food offers within weeks
Buy-one-get-one-free deals on junk food are set to be banned after opposition parties gave Theresa May their backing to tackle the obesity crisis.
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Opinion
Rising burger player keeps its cool
Patty & Bun is emerging from its status as cult burger bar to established player with almost a dozen sites. Founder Joe Grossman reflects on the roller-coaster ride in the early years and how he has combined focus and mayhem to build a brand with lasting cool. Finn Scott-Delany reports