R150 list reveals large restaurant groups confident about future
Many of the UK’s biggest restaurant operators plan to expand next year, despite the recession, Restaurant magazine’s R150 research has revealed.
More than a third of restaurant groups in the magazine’s expanded Restaurant R150 list intend to open new sites in the next 12 months, with many looking to capitalise on decreasing commercial property prices.
Tragus Group, which owns pizza chain Strada and Cafe Rouge, said it intended to open a further 12 sites over the next year and Wagamama said it was looking to open five or six more sites in the same period. YO! Sushi will continue with its rate restaurants a year while the G1 Group will open five more sites in Scotland over the coming year.
Pub chains will also be expanding over the next 12 months, with Merchant Inns aiming to open four more properties by the end of this year and a further 10 in 2010.
Luke Johnson, whose Patisserie Valerie chain expects to open 10 new branches over the next 12 months, said time was ripe for expansion. “Overall these are the best conditions for expansion in terms of people and property for well-funded operators for some time,” he told delegates at Allegra Strategies’s Restaurant Leader Summit last month. “There are already clearly better deals to be done than two years ago.”
Small operators “not drowned in debt,” would be best placed to expand at the moment, according to Johnson, thanks to the low cost of borrowing money. “If you can borrow money now it is remarkably cheap. Some of the big players are going to be very internally focused and cutting costs and this creates advantages for newcomers.”
He added that there were a number of ‘angel’ investors looking for a better return on their cash which smaller operators could make the most of. “The restaurant industry is still seen as something of a safe haven that can offer better returns.”
For the full Restaurant R150 list click here.
