The catering industry is at risk of purchasing unsafe, poor quality or illegal seafood if they do not check it has come from a reputable supplier, government bodies have warned.
Jamie Barber has revealed his Cabana restaurant in Westfield Stratford served more than 10,000 covers in the last week of the Olympics and he expects the Games to have a longer-lasting impact on businesses in the area.
With competition in the hospitality industry continuing to intensify, many businesses are turning to popular culture as a base for running themed evenings and events. BigHospitality has evaluated the effectiveness of a BAFTA art exhibition at Quaglino’s...
A prosecution brought against a pub showing live Premier League football on TV by using an Albanian satellite system has been ruled 'void' by the High Court with legal experts claiming other similar rulings may now be in doubt.
Budget hotel chain Travelodge has agreed a £635m debt restructuring deal, giving lenders control of the business and selling off 49 of its properties to other operators.
Sixty per cent of pubs saw an upturn in trade during the second week of the London 2012 Olympics, with one in five operators seeing like-for-likes increase by 11 per cent or more compared with the same period last year.
Isaac McHale, one half of The Young Turks chef collective, is preparing to jointly launch a set-menu restaurant in Shoreditch Town Hall, financed in part by 'crowdfunding' with the aim of opening two more sites for investors to benefit from.
Beechdean Farmhouse Dairy has expanded its range of ice cream available for the foodservice trade with the introduction of two 'retro' flavours - Eton Mess and Peach Melba.
Fast-casual noodle chain Wagamama has secured four new restaurants in the UK, less than two weeks after it appointed Steve Easterbrook as its new chief executive.
Experienced north west restaurateur Jaf Siddiqi has promised his latest venture, premium Indian restaurant Malai, will help bring back the authenticity of the famous 'Curry Mile' area of south Manchester.
The week running up to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics was the worst performing week of July for the UK’s leading restaurant, pub and bar groups, pushing an otherwise generally flat period into negative territory.
Any positive effects of the London 2012 Olympics on the hotels in London are likely to be offset with a drop in room prices by an average of 35 per cent across the capital.
“You have shown the world the best of British hospitality,” said IOC president Jacques Rogge in his speech at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics on Sunday evening. And the praise for the work of hotels, restaurants and pubs during the Games...
Il Tempo, a restaurant and bar serving Italian drinks plus aperitivo dishes available on an open table, is set to open in Covent Garden in September; a concept the owner says is the first of its kind in London.
The Yummy Pub Company has announced it is to rollout its Ssshh Supper Club concept to The Gorringe Park pub in Tooting after the venue was bought by Charles Wells with the specific intention of the two companies jointly launching a second operation together.
Umi hotels, the luxury budget hotel chain with sites in Notting Hill, Brighton and Moscow, has plans to expand under a franchise business model with an aim to sign up three new Umi-branded hotels in the UK over the next year.
As an increasing number of hospitality businesses are redefining their children’s offerings in a bid to boost business, BigHospitality evaluates the effectiveness of the Children’s Concierge service at Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, a new healthy...
A restaurateur from the City has sent London Mayor Boris Johnson a bill for £90,000 after revealing her businesses turnover has dropped by 80 per cent because of the Olympic Games.
Enterprise Inns has reported continued 'improving trading trends' but has declared the poor summer weather has affected its publicans and has had a bigger effect than the Olympics which has not yet materially impacted pub performance.
Following restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab's claim that Mooli's could be the next 'Indian Pret A Manger' and with a number of other premium sandwich operators looking to expand, Restaurant magazine's Joe Lutrario asks if it's the...
The top 100 restaurant chains saw turnover increase by 5.6 per cent last year, a big improvement on the 2.6 per cent increase of 2010. But the market isn't becoming any easier for smaller businesses as the beleaguered state of the UK economy is making...
London-based bar group Be At One has unveiled plans to open its 13th cocktail bar in the heart of the capital, where it will showcase a new food offering in partnership with restaurateur Ossie Gray.
Despite many hotels in London boasting increased occupancy rates during the London 2012 Olympics and some already claiming to see a positive legacy after the event, new figures on half-year hotel performance and hospitality insolvencies paint a very different...
The Great British Beer Festival, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), opens its doors today at London’s Olympia with the aim of reacquainting young people with their local community pub in the wake of damning new research.
The London 2012 Olympics may have reaffirmed Britain’s place at the toptable of world sport and sparked a wave of euphoria across the country, but for many of the capital's restaurants, the event has not yet proved to be so successful and business...
Tube journeys to stations in London's West End were up 27 per cent on Saturday (4 August) night according to the latest figures from Transport for London (TfL), but many restaurants still feel they are not benefiting from the trade boost promised...
Punch Taverns, the UK’s second largest operator of tenanted pubs, has become the latest hospitality business to join Jacques Borel’s VAT Club which seeks to reduce VAT to five per cent as a way of stimulating job creation.
In our new-look Ideas from your Peers column, we evaluate the effectiveness of special offer, promotions and initiatives that hospitality businesses are running in an attempt to boost business. This week, we’re looking at ETM Group’s Docklands pub, The...
In the final part of our special feature on securing investment for your hospitality business our focus turns to private investment: from love money courtesy of friends and family to equity houses and venture capital.
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) is urging London Mayor Boris Johnson to take part in a PR campaign to help drive more people into London’s restaurants, shops, and theatres following reports that the West End has been like a ghost town since...
Bounce, a 12,500sq.ft ‘social ping pong club’ combining 17 table tennis tables with cocktails and high-end dining, is set to open in London’s Holborn in October.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) could be fined up to 10 per cent of its annual turnover having been accused of conspiring to limit price competition on hotel room sales at the expense of UK consumers.
The London 2012 Olympics have so far failed to bring the benefit of extra trade to restaurants in London’s West End and City areas with some actually reporting a sales drop of up to 70 per cent.
Hotels in London recorded the worst financial performance of 2012 in June, with the extended holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee combined with Government warnings of transport disruption and fears over accommodation pricing before the Olympics leading...
Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur with a bold idea for a new restaurant concept or a successful hotelier with plans to expand an already popular business, there’s one thing you’ll always have in common – a bank account.
Despite showing signs of overall economic optimism and strong profitability during the first half of 2012, Britain’s hoteliers and B&B owners believe that the nation's time on the world stage this summer will have no lasting effects on business.
The wait is finally over as the London 2012 Olympics kicks off with the opening ceremony this evening. BigHospitality rounds up what the 17-day event could bring for your business and looks at whether it will actually have an overall positive effect on...
TV shows like Great British Menu have led to a resurgence in popularity among chefs for cooking banquets or developing event catering, so BigHospitality went behind the scenes at a fine-dining three-course meal for 2,000 at the Royal Albert Hall to find...
With just one day to go before the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, hotels in London have slashed their prices by 17 per cent in the past three weeks in a bid to fill any remaining rooms.
A team of wine experts has compiled a list of the best wines to match 16 of the UK's favourite dishes, including fish and chips, chicken tikka masala and strawberries and cream.
More than 10 million Brits – 21 per cent of the adult population – plan to make the most of the summer by taking at least one holiday or short break in the UK, with 8.9 million of those planning to take the trip in England.
Two reports released this week have shown that many hotels and conference venues across the capital believe that the London 2012 Olympics will leave a positive legacy for them after the Games have ended.
A cross-Whitehall committee or 'Star Chamber' is set to meet in the next few weeks to consider hospitality industry proposals to cut red tape and regulation, Tourism Minister John Penrose has revealed.
A number of hoteliers are introducing or improving spas at their hotels to entice corporate and international guests as a new report suggests more than a third of people booking a hotel see the presence of a spa as a key decision in their choice.
Pub restaurants have been the greatest beneficiary of UK diners eating out more frequently over the last year according to Horizons' latest QuickBite survey.
Disposables manufacturer Huhtamaki has launched a range of Olympics and sport-themed summer celebration tumblers for hospitality businesses looking to encourage al fresco drinking during the good weather.
In a wide-ranging, exclusive video interview for BigHospitality, Tourism Minister John Penrose has ruled out making a VAT cut for the hospitality industry a long-term ambition for the Government and has said businesses still need to show why a cut would...
The heavy rain over the last three months coupled with the Chancellor's March tax hike are being blamed for a 4.6 per cent drop in beer sales in pubs during the second quarter of 2012.
Occupancy among hotels in the capital dropped 9 per cent in June as the Diamond Jubilee failed to cancel out growing economic problems in Europe, however London and the UK continues to lead the continent in pipeline terms.
Almost seventy per cent of hotel guests believe cleanliness and hygiene to be the most important factor when making recommendations about a hotel to friends and colleagues, a survey has found.
