Chain restaurants 'get it right' but have no room for complacency warn analysts
Responding to the sales figures for July from 23 of the UK's major pub and restaurant operators, consultants for the Coffer Peach Business Tracker said although the public were continuing to go out and eat and drink, the continued global uncertainty is a 'serious threat' to consumer confidence.
Like-for-like sales in July were up 1 per cent on the previous month while total sales, which include the effect of new openings were up 3.1 per cent on the same time last year.
Peter Martin of Peach Factory said: "This is encouraging news for operators. Like-for-like sales saw a healthy 3.9% leap in June largely because of the dampening effect of the previous year’s football World Cup, but to see continued growth in July, when the weather was not particularly helpful, shows that the leading chains are working hard getting their consumer offer right."
Restaurants v retail
The data, compiled in partnership with KPMG, UBS and the Coffer Group, show that pub and restaurant chains also continue to out-perform the retail sector. According to the British Retail Consortium / KPMG Retail Sales Monitor like-for-like retail sales were up just 0.6% in July.
“But operators will not be complacent. Last week’s city riots will have hit trade badly for many, and they will be concerned about the long-term effect on confidence and the willingness of people to continue to go out, particularly in urban areas,” added Martin.
Significant challenges
Richard Hathaway, head of Travel, Leisure and Tourism at KPMG in the UK said although it was 'encouraging' that restaurant and pub groups were maintaining growth in spite of the wider consumer and economic backdrop, they continued to face 'significant challenges'.
”Different consumers are being hit to varying degrees, with the impact on sales growth therefore very different depending on location and the demographic of operators' and their brands' customer base. Being adaptable and flexing brand and site portfolios (particularly new site roll-out plans) to take account of current and relevant specific customer trends is vital if out-performance of the general retail sector is to continue."
