Sales rise at Brasserie Bar Co despite 'industry challenges'
The French-style group, which includes the Brasserie Blanc restaurants and White Brasserie gastropubs, saw turnover rise almost 14% to £46.8m in the year to July 2017.
It also opened four pubs and two Brasserie Blanc restaurants – including its first within a hotel – over the period.
The results follow a £3.5m rebrand of the Brasserie Blanc estate in 2014-16 which saw the chain ditch its white tablecloths and introduce 'lighter' versions of classic French dishes in a bid to modernise and attract younger diners.
The company also secured £20m funding from OakNorth bank in July 2017 which it plans to use to expand to 59 sites by 2022.
“In a difficult year for the licensed retail sector, we are delighted to report another period of considerable achievement,” says Mark Derry, CEO of Brasserie Bar Co.
“We served some 1.6m guests, collected 40,000 pieces of feedback with an average score of nine out of ten and saw eight sites breaking sales records. We look forward to growing our estate and our team despite industry challenges.”
Other casual dining operators have struggled with difficult market conditions such as rising food costs and staffing pressures. Strada shut more than a third of its sites over the festive period blaming an ‘increasingly competitive market’, while Jamie’s Italian is preparing to close restaurants as part of a restructure of the business.
Blanc is responsible for the creative direction of the menus at Brasserie Blanc alongside executive chef Clive Fretwell, who previously worked at the chef’s two Michelin-starred restaurant Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxford.
