JD Wetherspoon has revealed a rise in like-for-like sales of 2.1 per cent in the 26 weeks to 22 January 2012 but announced it is scaling back its planned pub openings for the financial year and remains cautious about future performance.
In a week that marks International Women’s Day, there is no one better placed to give her thoughts on life, her career and hospitality than Vivien Sirotkin. With over 30 years experience in the industry, Sirotkin - currently director of hotel operations...
Hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars including The Chester Grosvenor, The Draft House, The Dorchester and Ichi Sushi tell BigHospitality about special events and promotions they're running to attract new customers.
Restaurants and bars are being encouraged to team up with Transport for London (TfL) to promote offers and deals for workers travelling during the Olympics in order to ease the after work commute during London 2012.
The Big Event 2012, the evening fundraiser set up by Springboard and Hospitality Action to coincide with Hotelympia, has raised £80k for the two charities.
Use of a professional training kitchen and being given time off work to train will enable the UK to compete on a level playing field in the Bocuse d’Or for the first time ever according to candidate Adam Bennett.
Former Von Essen hotel Dalhousie Castle, near Edinburgh, has been bought out of administration for around £5m – half the price that Von Essen originally paid for the property in 2003.
Karen Forrester, managing director of TGI Friday’s in the UK, has been named Best Individual at this year’s Retailers’ Retailer of the Year Awards where Cote, Brasserie Blanc and Alex Reilley at Loungers were also winners.
When it comes to maximising drinks sales, beer has always stood in the shadow of higher GP wine and there has been little faith that diners would ever choose grape over grain. But, with a rise in the popularity of craft beers and a continuing surge in...
Richard Balfour-Lynn is to step down from his position as chief executive of MWB Group Holdings, the owner of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, at the end of the month.
Women 1st has announced the nominating process has opened for the 2012 Women 1st Shine Awards which recognise outstanding female achievement in the hospitality industry.
The Government should encourage people to return to pubs and bars to drink if it is to control night-time violence caused as a result of alcohol, according to new research from the Institute for Health and Community at Plymouth University.
Michelin-starred Italian chef Bruno Barbieri has opened his first restaurant in the UK: Cotidie – offering modern Italian cuisine in London’s Marylebone High Street.
McCain Foodservice is giving chefs who are proud of the hand cut chips they make for their menus to pitch them against their own Gastro Chips range to see how they compare in terms of taste, appearance and operational efficiency.
International Women's Day 2012 is celebrated on Thursday 8 March under the theme 'Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures'. Ahead of the event BigHospitality spoke to three leading women in hospitality to get their take on the industry approach...
A number of high-profile closures across the capital in recent months could be the first signs that London is no longer the recession-free zone many have considered it to be.
Volume sales of wine at restaurants, hotels and pubs fell 6 per cent in 2011, according to the latest Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) Market Report with spirit sales down slightly less at 2 per cent.
Simon Rogan, Nathan Outlaw and Aiden Byrne are among 24 of the UK’s top chefs preparing to take part in what is expected to be the last series of BBC Two’s Great British Menu this Spring.
The campaign set-up to lobby for a cut in VAT charged in hospitality businesses on drink, food and accommodation to 5% has redesigned its logo to represent a refocus for the campaign on the employment benefits a VAT boost to the industry could give the...
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) is urging hospitality businesses across the UK to support VisitEngland’s new campaign – Holidays at Home are GREAT.
Hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars including Park Plaza County Hall, The Bingham, PizzaExpress and Holiday Inn have told BigHospitality about special events and promotions they’re running to attract new customers.
The Clink Charity has announced plans to expand and open a second prison restaurant before the end of the year with discussions ongoing between the charity and HMP Cardiff and HMP Prescoed, South Wales.
Accor is to open a 128-bed hotel as part of the refurbishment of the West 12 shopping centre in London’s Shepherd’s Bush; the first new UK opening since the rebranding of its entire economy offering under the Ibis name.
Gordon Ramsay has partnered with his Gordon Ramsay Holdings corporate executive US chef Andi Van Willigan to launch The Fat Cow, set to open this summer in Los Angeles.
A survey of UK consumers has found that restaurant service remains a more important factor than food pricing to drive whether diners make recommendations to friends and family or leave a restaurant early.
Lily Brierley, training manager at Enotria, explains how hospitality business owners can make their staff more aware of wine lists and encourage them to openly talk about wine with customers in a bid to maximise drinks sales.
The intense competition for prime city-centre restaurant sites is spreading rapidly into shopping centres across the UK, as landlords, established food concepts and emerging brands are increasingly recognising the potential of such high-footfall locations.
Rapidly-expanding gourmet burger chain Byron has been hailed as the fastest growing restaurant concept of the past six months having more than trebled its portfolio in the past three years.
The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) is to launch the first National Licenced Hospitality Apprenticeships Summit to demonstrate how apprenticeships can provide a motivated workforce in the hospitality industry.
MWB Group, the owner of boutique hotel chains Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, has successfully reduced its debt to £180m in just six months, with total revenue rising by nine per cent and occupancy and room rates holding firm.
At the opening of the 500th Travelodge in the UK in Stratford, the budget hotel chain has announced significant London expansion plans with another 184 sites planned for the capital by 2025 creating 5,000 jobs across the city.
Baffito’s Bar & Pizzeria has opened the doors of its first venue - a 140-cover site in Warrington - as the new brand plans to expand to 10 sites within the next three years.
A decade of Government investment in the local brewing sector has produced an industry that is ‘thriving’, although the future remains threatened by ‘punitive’ levels of beer taxation, according to the Local Beer Report 2012 published today by the Society...
After suffering a period of decline in Q4 2011, London hoteliers are back to their best in the first month of 2012, recording a seven per cent increase in profit per room and a 2.5 per cent rise in RevPAR.
Simon Vincent, president Europe of Hilton Worldwide, has been tasked with leading the Hospitality Guild, a new umbrella organisation set up to champion skills development within the hospitality industry.
Aiden Byrne has decided to change The Church Green, the pub he bought in Lymm three and a half years ago, into a British Grill because it was no longer financially viable to run it as a fine dining restaurant.
A 160-bed Tulip Inn hotel from France-based operator Louvre Hotels is at the heart of a new Glasgow development in the shadow of the Celtic FC football ground, plans of which were announced today.
A new interactive reservation experience, voiced by actor John Hurt, has been created by Heston Blumenthal for The Fat Duck which allows diners to enter a secret online sweetshop and view an animated version of the menu.
Richard Harden, co-founder of the Harden’s Restaurant Guide, has slammed rival guide book Michelin, claiming the business is only involved in the restaurant industry for publicity and that The Michelin Guide ‘falls in love with the chefs it creates’.
Restaurants and pubs across the UK may need to consider revising their menus due to the continuing spread of the Schmallenberg virus, which could dramatically reduce supplies of lamb and increase its costs.
Work experience has hit the headlines as Government talks with businesses concerned about the scheme to get unemployed youngsters on placements continue; BigHospitality asked hospitality industry leaders at Hotelympia, including Raymond Blanc, for their...
Nestle Toque d'Or, the culinary competition for catering colleges, has taken on a new format for 2012, doing away with the first round paper entries and putting more emphasis on exposing students to 'real life' hospitality scenarios.
The British Culinary Federation (BCF) Chef of the Year competition reached its climax at Hotelympia last night with Simon Webb from Restaurant Associates, Merrill Lynch, taking the prize after impressing judges including Raymond Blanc and Ashley Palmer-Watts.
The Cornwall-based brewery and pub operator, St Austell Brewery, has agreed a £40m refinancing deal with RBS and Barclays banks to help fund the company investments in its 174-strong pub estate.
Fred Sirieix, general manager at Galvin at Windows, has designed a new service college course with Westminster Kingsway College for restaurant managers that will be available for those already working in the industry.
Publicans have been warned by a leading sports lawyer not to misread the victory of Portsmouth landlady Karen Murphy in the High Court as an acceptance of the legality of showing Premier League matches without a valid UK subscription service.
