Contract catering, energy price cap, labour, sales v margin & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Our dog, in common with many others it seems, prefers human food to her own.

She’ll imperiously leave her bowl to the flies if she thinks there’s a chance of some leftovers and, if there is, it can be the devil’s own job afterwards getting her to clear her bowl of her own food afterwards.

Hence, sick of the waste and as humans are smart, right, and dogs are dim, I occasionally mixed in some thrifty-pilchards, which were apparently meant for humans and which have at least trace elements of pilchards in the tin.

And, when I first did this, it worked a treat.

But, as it became more common, I should have paid attention to her as she watches me like a hawk when there’s food around and she saw very quickly that the part-used tin was stored on the same shelf as her food in the fridge.

That clearly raised suspicions and, as she might be offered pilchards when we’d been eating something that she suspected was maybe chicken, she went on pilchard strike. She gave us her best ‘that’s dogfood, right?’ sneer and has been reluctant to eat it since. On to the news:

LANGTON EMAIL:

The Free Email is now written in short form. Extended versions of many stories (after the ellipses) are in the Premium Email. Reply to this email if you would like to upgrade.

Prices for the Premium are £395 for one subscription, £695 for multiple, £995 for very large subscribers, all plus VAT. Or sign up for easy in, easy out monthly option per subscriber HERE

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=87YUG2Z5W7PSN

PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Contract catering:

CGA by NIQ and Bidfood’s Contract Catering Tracker shows that sales in the industry are up 30% YoY in Q1, as consumers steadily returned to workplaces and other locations served by contract caterers. The comparative period last year was impacted by the Omicron Covid variant which kept some consumers away from public spaces…

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Cost of living crisis:

Ofgem’s new price cap will mean a drop of £426 to £2,074 from July as energy prices come down since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine….

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Menu price inflation:

Lumina Intelligence’s Menu Tracker Q1 report shows that food menu price inflation has increased by +10.3% YoY…

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Labour issues:

UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls has commented on legal migration figures, stating ‘Unfortunately, despite the numbers published today, there remain significant shortages across hospitality with 132,000 vacancies, 48% above pre-pandemic levels….’

Other news:

CBI Distributive Trade Survey shows that retail sales volumes dipped in the year to May following a return to growth last month…

Green MSP and Circular economy minister Lorna Slater claims that Scotland’s controversial Deposit Return Scheme could be deemed unviable by the end of this month. Ms Slater said that a positive response from Westminster will determine ‘whether the scheme is viable or not to move forward.’

TARGET SALES OR MARGINS?

This was sent out to clients a few months ago when it became clear that a common theme across the sector was that sales were up but margins were down:

Summary: It would be nice if a company could record both revenue growth and margin expansion. But that doesn’t happen too often – particularly for companies once they have achieved a certain size and scale economies have been exhausted – not least because margin expansion is finite and sales growth (within reason) isn’t. But there is also a trade-off the other way in that a company selling tenners for nine quid would a) be run off its feet and b) go bust.

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Aviation specialist OAG has suggested that transatlantic flights will exceed pre-pandemic levels this summer…

UKHospitality Scotland has said ringfenced visitor levy funds must be spent effectively to ‘protect and enhance’ Scotland’s reputation as a leading tourist destination…

British Airways yesterday cancelled 43 flights from London Heathrow due to IT issues.

The French government has gone ahead and formally banned some short-haul domestic flights where there is an alternative train journey of less than two and a half hours.

Tech provider Cvent reports that London remained the premier destination in Europe for meetings and events this year….

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

OTHER LEISURE:

The MCA reports that retail, leisure, and entertainment concept Gravity plans to open a further 10 sites across the UK, adding to its current estate of 18….

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to meet Google CEO Sundar Pichai today for talks about the future of AI. The meeting is said to be focused on AI-related challenges, although it was also expected to address other issues including the UK as an investment environment for major tech companies.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The Daily Telegraph comments on the market’s view of the UK economy when it says ‘UK borrowing costs surged to levels last reached under Liz Truss’s ill-fated premiership after traders were spooked by unexpectedly strong inflation….’

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Interest rates. The Telegraph reports that ‘traders now expect interest rates to rise to 5.5pc by the end of the year, up from 4.5pc currently, betting Threadneedle Street will raise interest rates at its next three meetings in June, August and September…’

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

The German economy, which has historically been dependent on Russian gas, has entered recession.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.