EAT. DRINK. SLEEP August 2015
Resturant News
Average weekly sales figure for restaurants revealed Food-led bar and restaurant businesses made an average total of £18,000 in weekly sales for the past year. That's according to research from Fourth Analytics, which studied benchmarking data from 3,000 outlets around the country. The weekly sales figure of £18,000 marked a 2.7% rise on the previous year when it stood at £17,600. Meanwhile, the average food mix was up to 77.2% (vs drinks sales), from 76.2% from the previous year. The figures were presented by Mike Shipley, analytics & insight solutions director at Fourth, during a bars and restaurants forum held last week by Fourth, BDO and Barclays bank. Other findings in the research included the fact that businesses generally achieved gross margins between 76% and 78%, while average labour costs across the industry are 28.8% (as a percentage of revenues), up 0.5% from a year ago. Pubs, because they achieve higher wet sales, produce lower labout costs, at 26.7% of revenues (also up 0.5% on 2014).
Drake & Morgan to open first non-London site, in Edinburgh Restaurant and bar group Drake & Morgan is to open a site in Edinburgh in autumn 2016, its first outside London. The new venue will be part of the new £75m office development in the city’s St Andrew Square, and will bring the group’s portfolio to 10 sites after its new opening in King’s Cross, London, in September this year. Dylan Murray, director of operations, says: “We are extremely excited to be opening our tenth site in Edinburgh. The new bar and restaurant will be an extension of that same brand but will have its own distinct personality and character befitting of its location.” He confirmed that the company had looked to the Scottish city, thanks to its “booming hospitality industry”, and said that the new site would aim to have strong design, creative menus, and pay close attention to service and detail. Drake & Morgan was founded in 2008 by managing director Jillian Maclean (pictured), who has lived and worked in Edinburgh. It currently operates eight open sites across London, including the Anthologist in Gresham Street, the Parlour in Canada Square, the Happenstance on Ludgate Hill, the Fable in Holborn, and two Refinery sites – one in Bankside and the original in Regent’s Place.
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Average hourly pay in the industry (based on these 3,000 sites) was £6.75, up 2.2%, although this looks set to rise in light of chancellor George Osborne's announcement last week that he planned to introduce a National Living Wage set at £7.20 per hour for people working and aged 25 and over from April 2016. Average length of service in the establishments in the study was just 392 days - ie an employee turnover of 93%. This was a slight improvement on 2014 when average tenture was 385 days. The worst rate recorded was 210 days' average service (6.8 months). The best industry retention recorded by the Fourth Analytics system was 631 days, or 20.3 months. Shipley said: “When analysing these figures, we see a direct correlation between companies that proactively seek to engage and retain their teams, and those companies that perhaps do less work in this area.” When it came to staff absence, on average the sites studied lost 16.8 days per month through absence or illness, down from 18.2 days in 2014.
London music venue and restaurant the Troubadour on sale Well-known London music venue and restaurant the Troubadour is on sale after being marketed by specialist property adviser Christie + Co, off a guide price of £225,000. The vendors are Simon and Susie Thornhill, who have owned the site since 1998. The venue is made up of three leasehold properties including the 114-cover restaurant on the ground floor. In the basement is a 132-capacity club and 20-seat wine bar. There are also owners’ living quarters over three floors; a gallery with two self- contained letting flats for four; an office, garden, and extra storage. Established in 1954 by Michael and Sheila van Bloemen, the Troubadour bills itself as one of the last remaining ‘50s-era coffee houses in London. Across the last six decades it has hosted music artists such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Ronnie Wood, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Taylor, Adele, Ed Sheeran, and Amos Lee. It also aims to support young, emerging musicians. Simon Chaplin, director, pubs and restaurants at Christie + Co, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to acquire a slice of history and the Troubadour has a loyal clientele made up of both locals and those travelling from further afield to visit the venue. There is scope for the new purchasers to build on its strong following.”