Hush Collection saw turnover drop 20% in 2020

In what it describes as an ‘extraordinary year’, the 12-strong group, comprising Hush Mayfair, Brazilian food concept Cabana and burger brand Haché, says that a combination of tight controls, landlord negotiations and government support mitigated the Collection’s EBITDA loss to just £388,915 from £645,283 the previous year.

The business, led by Jamie Barber and Ed Standring, credited its performance to keeping the Haché business trading throughout the year with a pivot to delivery and take-away resulting in a five-fold increase in sales. Some of its restaurants reported like-for-like growth during the period.

The company says it has continued to trade well and beyond expectation throughout 2021 and has enjoyed ‘high team member retention rates with the restaurants well-staffed’.

“It has been an incredibly challenging time for hospitality, but we are immensely proud of our performance,” says Barber.

“The business has shown agility and adaptability and these results are a testament to that as well as our loyal team. Our restaurants have traded well this year and beyond expectations. As such, we are well-placed to ride any additional pandemic headwinds.”

In August last year the company opened the first international franchised Cabana in Riyadh with a second site in the pipeline. Further international expansion is planned across the Middle East in the coming years, it says.

Its vegan delivery brand Little Planted Kitchen brand was developed and launched in the period and continues to operate out of 11 sites across London, it adds.

It also says its ‘Feed Our Front Line’ campaign that helped feed NHS staff during the first waves of the pandemic ‘generated significant loyalty and goodwill for the brands’.