According to The Telegraph, the group has hired advisers to explore options for the division, which houses the Beefeater, Bar + Block and Brewers Fayre chains.
Sources have said that discussions are at a preliminary stage and may not result in the business being sold, and they insisted that only a 'small part' of Whitbread’s pub and restaurant business was being considered for possible disposal.
Whitbread’s advisers are understood to have begun contacting potentially interested parties, asking them to sign non-disclosure agreements ahead of a formal sales process.
It follows a warning in Whitbread’s recently published annual report of 'the increasing divergence of performance of the hotel business and the food and beverage business', which the group warned could have a detrimental effect on the price charged for Premier Inn rooms.
Whitbread reported last month that its F&B sales were 40% ahead of FY22 for the 52 weeks to 2 March 2023, however, they remained 4% behind pre-pandemic levels.
Increased spend per head was outweighed by a decline in customer volumes at its branded restaurants, despite their focus on the value-end of the market, however trading in the seven weeks to 20 April 2023 had seen an improvement in F&B – which were up 10% on FY23.
Whitbread declined to comment on The Telegraph story.