Dynamic pricing, food costs, cash, Pat Val, Yo Sushi, CMBC & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

I took a walk from London Wall over to Spitalfields Market yesterday to have a potter around and get my step count up and, if the collapse in the number of men wearing short trousers is anything to go by, the end of summer is in sight.

Indeed, it may have passed already as I only saw about five blokes summered up and one of them was me.

Another chap had a DHL polo shirt on and two of the others were wearing steel-toe-capped boots and were carrying a plank of wood leaving perhaps 500 or so others wearing either chinos and open-necked shirts or were sweating their way around The City in the full besuited Monty.

But I’ll push on. At least until the wind and the lashing sleet forces a rethink; 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:

Dynamic pricing.

This may have been expected or normal or what everyone does – but the Press didn’t see it that way and the subject attracted a lot of comment yesterday. The idea of a ‘happy hour in reverse’ didn’t go down too well because, though the relationship between prices on a Monday and a Saturday may be the same under both systems, the optics are very different…

• 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.

Food costs:

The relationship between food input costs and the output prices charged by hospitality is not linear. In the US, where the Labour Department yesterday said that CPI in the year to August was 3.7%, the gap between input and output food prices did not widen for the first time in six months.

Other news:

The ISMEA has reported that Italian wine production is down 12% YoY to around 44 million hectolitres. At the same time, French wine production is predicted to be 44-47 million hectolitres, which would put it above Italy for the first time in 9 years.

Cash vs plastic:

UK Finance has reported that cash payments took a larger proportion of total transactions for the first time in a decade last year. Debit card are still the largest constituent of overall payments…

COMPANY NEWS:

Five years after the collapse of the company, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged four people in connection with the failure of Luke Johnson chaired Patisserie Valerie in 2018….

• 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.

Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) announces plans to close Wychwood Brewery from November 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.

YO! Sushi UK Ltd has reported its FY numbers for the period ended 27 November 2022 to Companies House. The ultimate parent company and controlling party is Mayfair Equity Partners Nominees Ltd, with YO! Sushi UK Ltd being consolidated into the Snowfox Midco 1 Ltd group company.

Alongside YO! Sushi UK, Snowfox consolidates companies which operate other kiosks & manufacture sushi for sale through grocers in the UK, USA & Canada. It also has sizable franchising operations.

In the year ended 27 November, YO! Sushi UK (the main UK trading subsidiary) revenues represented 28.2% of total revenue for Snowfox Midco 1 Ltd. Revenue increased significantly by 53.8% YoY to £84.7m as the hospitality sector reopened post restrictions. Gross profit rose by 64.0% to £35.1m, with gross profit margins improving to 41.4% in 2022 from 38.8% in 2021…

Wendy’s has confirmed planned openings in Derby, Leeds, Peterborough, Guildford, Cambridge, and Middlesbrough. Wendy’s launched in the UK in 2021 and currently operates c30 sites in the country, aiming to reach 40 sites by the end of the year.

Pizza Hut’s major UK franchisee, Heart with Smart, has rubbished claims that its restaurants are under threat of closure, with its CEO saying ‘there’s absolutely no crisis in our business at all…’

DUNKIN’ UK is to open what will be its flagship store ( and its second London location), on Wardour Street later this month. Arjun Patel, Director at UK brand franchisee QFM Group, said ‘we have had real success in the North of England since opening and to support our great location in Baker Street, additional new store openings in the capital this year will enable more Londoners to access our iconic brand.’

The Range is to pay around £5m for the Wilko brand name reports Sky News.

HOTELS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

World Travel & Tourism Council research forecasts the UK travel and tourism sector will exceed the pre-Covid 2019 peak this year, contributing £252.4bn to the UK economy, up from 2019’s peak of £248.5bn….

Service at Heathrow Airport in October is set to be disrupted as 170 baggage staff go on strike between 17:30 on the 6th and 6am on the 9th, and for ten consecutive days starting on the 20th.

Zetter Hotels will open a property in London’s Bloomsbury in early 2025, marking the company’s third site and its first opening in ten years. The property is next to the British Museum and is formed of six Grade II-listed Georgian townhouses that are roughly 300 years old.

OTHER LEISURE:

French watchdog ANFR has ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12 in France, claiming that the product is emitting too much electromagnetic radiation….

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The US Labour Department announced yesterday that CPI in the US in the year to August was 3.7%, up from 3.2% in July and slightly ahead of estimates. Petrol costs were the largest delta.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has reported that house price falls in the UK are now at their most widespread in 14 years. It says that demand in August weakened further as interest rates continued to rise…

Sterling up at $1.2499 and €1.1629. Oil up at $92.36. UK 10yr gilt yield down 7bps at 4.36%. World markets mixed yesterday. London set to open around 16pts higher as at 6.30am.

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.