Managed restaurants, pubs, and bars in the UK have achieved 12 consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth, once again highlighting the disparity between independent and corporately run venues, research from the CGA found.
In September, like-for-like growth reached 5.9% for all managed venues, closely mirroring August's 5.3% jump and the UK's general inflation rate of 6.7%.
Warm weather led to a robust month for pubs, with sales increasing by 8.6%, driven by visits to beer gardens and the draw of the Rugby World Cup.
Restaurants, which have lagged drink-led sites in 2023, experienced slightly lower growth at 4.8%, while bars faced a challenging month, like much of this year, with sales dropping by 8.9%.
Karl Chessell, director at CGA said: “A cool August made for a good month for restaurants, but better weather in September flipped the fortunes in favour of pubs. Overall growth of 5.9% represents another solid performance for managed groups, and shows consumers remain eager to eat and drink out.”
Some of the businesses followed in the tracker include a range of the UK’s largest hospitality firms including:
- Azzuri Group
- Big Table Group
- BrewDog
- Cote Restaurants
- Fuller Smith & Turner
- Gaucho Grill
- Stonegate Pub Co
- Shepard Neame
- Whitbread’s food-led brands
- Pizza Hut UK
- Restaurant Group
While these companies continue to rebound from the pandemic with strong growth, and even some upbeat trading statements from those that are listed, independents continue to struggle.
Back in July, it was confirmed that 1,800 hospitality venues had closed for good, with over three-quarters of this figure made up by independents, with this sector of the industry losing 15,000 of its venues since the beginning of the pandemic.