Cost of living ‘hinders’ performance at Boparan

The group’s parent company, Boparan Private Office Limited, saw turnover across its restaurant estate, which includes brands such as Slim Chickens (pictured), Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), Carluccio’s and Giraffe, increase to £144.5m in the 52 weeks to 1 January 2023, up from £110.3m the year before.

It attributes the rise in turnover to ‘improved trading conditions’ following the Covid-19 pandemic, but adds that its performance has been ‘hindered’ by the impact of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The group ‘continues to invest in new restaurant openings’, particularly under the Slim Chickens brand, as well as in ‘improvements to its existing estate’.

Accounts for its Gourmet Burger Kitchen subsidiary, which encompasses the GBK, Slim Chickens and Fishworks brands, show the three businesses delivered a combined turnover of £49.5m over the period, up from £41m the year before, buoyed by the opening of six Slim Chickens sites.

However, it reported a pre-tax loss for the year of £3.2m, down from a profit of £6.7m in 2021, which it attributed to ‘inflationary pressures’.

Slim Chickens has been driving share growth in the chicken category in the UK and ranks among the top 10 fastest growing branded restaurants by outlets between 2022 and 2023, according to Lumina Intelligence.

Elsewhere, BRG’s Carluccio’s business generated revenue of £33.8m (2021: £28.1m), but saw its losses widened from £0.6m to £3.8m.

Giraffe posted £41.4m turnover (2021: £31.1m) with a profit of £2.6m (2021: loss of £1.7m).

The group said: “Management are well progressed in delivering the synergy benefits from bringing the branded restaurants under the stewardship of one executive management team and using the skill and scale of the wider group buying structure to leverage cost benefits.

“This has helped mitigate the impact of inflationary cost pressure in 2022 and 2023 and opportunities exist looking further ahead.”