140-strong restaurant group confident it can expand while maintaining strict discipline around site economics and returns
Loungers relocates a store for the first time as it pounces on vacant Prezzo premises
Loungers is relocating one of its most popular restaurants to a larger site formerly occupied by troubled asual dining chain Prezzo. The Ocho Lounge in Penarth, near Cardiff, has traded from its Windsor Road address for a decade, but it has been bursting at the seams for the last couple of years. Loungers has been…
POWER LIST 2018, CHAIN CHAMPIONS: Antony Bennett, Head of Food, Loungers
Fast-growing restaurant and bar chain Loungers credits a more system and process-based approach to menu development for ensuring its kitchens have been able to keep pace with the rapid expansion of its business. The firm had around 60 sites two years ago, but relentless growth in the period since has seen the size of the…
PANEL DISCUSSION: Menu innovation challenges for multi-site operators
Keeping menus innovative and profitable is an ongoing challenge for pub and restaurant operators. At the recent Casual Dining Show in London, consultant, chef and author, Jay Morjaria, chaired a panel of some of the top executive chefs in the business as they discussed what goes on in their development kitchens. FEJ had a front…
Loungers adapts kitchen operations to keep pace with rapid expansion
Fast-growing restaurant and bar chain Loungers credits a more system and process-based approach to menu development for ensuring its kitchens have been able to keep pace with the rapid expansion of its business. The firm, which operates the Loungers and Cosy Clubs brands, had around 60 sites two years ago, but relentless growth in the…
Loungers turnover swells 34% to £92m as new projects keep coming
Bar group Loungers is continuing to open new stores at a rate of knots after adding more than £20m to its turnover during its latest financial year. Figures published with Companies House today reveal that sales for the 12 months to 23 April 2017 grew 34% year-on-year to £91.8m. The huge spike in turnover is…
PizzaExpress and CDG execs to share restaurant transformation secrets
Organisers of the Casual Dining Show have unveiled more new speakers for 2018, including MDs and senior directors from PizzaExpress, Mitchells & Butlers, Casual Dining Group, Loungers and Pho. The event, which returns to the Business Design Centre in London on 21-22 February next year, will now see keynotes from Susan Chappell, divisional director, exec…
POWER LIST 2017, CHAIN CHAMPIONS: Jake Bishop, Group Commercial Director, Loungers
You need the right mix of operational pedigree and executive management skill to prevail in the foodservice market and in Jake Bishop, Bristol-based cafe chain Loungers has certainly got a man who possesses both. Jake is one of the three co-founders of a business that turned over almost £70m in its last financial year and…
DATA JUST OUT: Fall in pub and restaurant groups exposes ‘flat’ market
Britain’s managed pub and restaurant market experienced a dip in trading in May, with operators recording collective like-for-like sales down 0.4% compared to the same month last year, latest figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker show. Groups trading in London did slightly better with like-for-likes up 0.1%, compared to a 0.6% fall outside of…
Coffee Shop chain brews up first project in the north
The Department of Coffee and Social Affairs chain is expanding its business in the UK by launching a branch in Manchester. Arriving in Summer 2017 at the approximately 3000sq ft premises of Faulkner House, New York Street, the coffee shop will be the company’s first location in the North of England. It will also be…
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