News and Trends

  AMT Coffee has been sold out of administration with 18 stores set to close leaving 100 employees facing redundancy. The coffee chain, which has sites in airports, train stations, hospitals and other locations across the UK and Ireland, fell into administration this morning and was immediately sold to travel caterer SSP Group. SSP Group has retained 25 sites, which will continue to trade as AMT Coffee, and approximatly 200 staff will transfer to the business. Nick Holloway and Will Wright from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators. Holloway, said: "The pandemic and broader economic headwinds have made this a particularly tough period for those working across the UK hospitality industry. Our priority as joint administrators will be to provide support and assistance to those impacted by redundancy." Sam Birchall, director at Interpath Advisory, added: "AMT Coffee is a familiar name to many commuters and travellers across both the UK and Ireland, so we are...

Asda has updated investors on its Q3 trading performance, noting its investments to drive value during the quarter resulted in a 4.7% increase in like-for-like sales, when compared to the same period last year. Total revenues, excluding fuel, amounted to £5.2 bn. Asda's cost-of-living-focused initiatives Asda’s endeavours to address the cost-of-living crisis included rolling out 141 new economy private label Just Essentials products, increasing the total number of products available in the range to 270. More than 10m customers shopped the range during the quarter. According to Asda, around 70% spend on the range is from new customers and more than 400,000 shoppers switched to Asda during the quarter from other supermarkets. Asda also continued its ‘Dropped & Locked’ pricing initiative, where 250 popular items are locked in price for the rest of the year to give customers more certainty over their shopping bills. Q3 saw Asda refresh bakery, meat, fish and poultry categories Duri...

  The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR, the government’s official forecasting body) has issued a new   Economic & Fiscal Outlook Report   (EFO). This is the document that today’s  Autumn Statement  is based on – it also judges the chances of the government hitting its financial goals. As expected, the economic position is fairly grim and government finances are precarious. There are several points for food and grocery professionals to take note of. The good(ish) news According to OBR, UK inflation may now be nearing its peak. Year-on-year CPI inflation will peak in Q4 2022 at around 11% - it would be higher without extensive government intervention in energy markets. Inflation will then weaken over 2023, turning slightly negative in 2025 and 2026, before returning to the 2% target rate from around 2027. Food price inflation will also peak shortly and weaken over 2023. Food prices will remain flat over 2024-26, then begin to rise slowly again. (This view...

 Namnews,  15th November 2022 NielsenIQ data covering the last four weeks shows Total Till value growth in the supermarket sector increased to 5.3% from 4.7% in the previous month. Despite inflation accelerating and shoppers purchasing less, declining volumes appear to have stabilised, down 5.4% against 5.6% in the last 12 weeks, with research suggesting special offers could persuade shoppers to spend over the festive period. Across the industry, the average spend per visit increased to £18.50 compared to £18.20 last month but is still lower than the same period last year when it was £18.70. In terms of channel performance, NielsenIQ’s data confirms that Aldi and Lidl (7.7%) are outperforming convenience stores (4.3%) and supermarkets (3.1%). Amid the wider slowdown in discretionary spending due to inflation, general merchandise value sales in supermarkets fell 1.2%, with volumes sliding 7.6%. However, value growth across FMCG for the week ending 5 November was more robust at ...

rspbi.openings.co.uk, 14 November 2022 TV chef, Si King, one half of the Hairy Bikers, will be opening a new restaurant in Sheepfolds.  The venue is currently being rennovated by BDN architects that recently renovated the Old Simpson Street School, as its own commercial development. Si will offer a menu made up of comforting, hearty dishes and will also use his space to stage food pop-ups from independent local producers.  The development at Sheepfolds was originally a Grade II stables with outbuildings and will have some new additions to create an open air leisure hub. It is due to open in the summer of 2023, with a range of restaurants, pubs and bars,  and a large stage area for live music and performances. The venue has already announced Zinc as the first venue - this will be a new venture  for the owners of Route – a Michelin Guide restaurant in Newcastle.  

  www.rpbi-openings.co.uk, 1 4 November 2022 Community focused coffee shop, Coffee#1, has announced strong trading for the first five months of its financial year (June 2022-October 2022) with strong like for likes sales growth taking sales to 111% of pre-pandemic levels. In September and October, sales reached 117% of 2019 levels, giving Coffee#1 its first £1m gross sales week. This record was then broken again during the most recent half term, which saw over a quarter of a million people served in a single week for the first time. During the same period, Coffee#1 opened four new stores, averaging one per month. It now has 106 stores in the U.K., making it the fourth largest coffee shop brand in the nation. Another five new openings are anticipated over the next three months as the business continues to expand its geography. Having opened its first store in 2001, Coffee#1 operates in Wales, West and South West England, with a small footprint in the Midlands. Its most recent openin...

  rspbi.news.co.uk, 09 November 2022 PPHE Hotel Group has announced that art'otel London Battersea Power Station, the Group's first UK managed art'otel, will open its doors to guests on 12 December 2022, with the full launch in February 2023.   The hotel will be operated by PPHE's hospitality management platform under a management agreement.  The Group's management platform is fully scalable and designed to grow through managing fully or jointly owned real estate, providing best in class revenue management and a flexible contract structure for asset owners. The hotel's launch is expected to bring further energy to the recently launched and groundbreaking Battersea Power Station neighbourhood, offering a one-of-a-kind hotel experience that fuses art, design and hospitality with never-before-seen views particularly from the highly anticipated rooftop bar, heated infinity pool and hot tub located on the 16th floor. The 164-bedroom hotel will be located within Batte...