Tuesday 3/5/16

Bighospitality – Government tipping report cautiously welcomed by hospitality groups

By Hannah Thompson, 03-May-2016

Hospitality groups have welcomed the Government recommendations that restaurants and bars should not take deductions from staff tips, and that all tips left by customers should be collected directly by staff. Read More

Morningadvertiser – Exclusive: Pubs Code Adjudicator reaches out to campaigners

By James Evison, 03-May-2016

Meetings planned by the new Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) Paul Newby to include those who have campaigned against his employment – but they have denied his request. Read More

Propelinfonews – National Living Wage – Young’s increases pint of beer by 10p to cover cost, Le Pain Quotidien ends paid breaks: London-based pub retailer Young’s said it had increased the price of a pint by 10p to cover the new National Living Wage rather than cutting staff perks. The flat 10p price rise has seen a pint of Young’s Ordinary increase from £4.15 to £4.25, while Young’s Special has gone up from £4.30 to £4.40. It cancels out the benefits of the chancellor’s freeze on beer duty in the last Budget, and the penny cut in levy in each of the previous three budgets. Young’s – which pays the living wage to 3,500 staff – told the Daily Mail it had taken the conscious decision to pass the costs on to its customers instead of slashing employee benefits. However, the company said it had tried to minimise the impact on drinkers by making savings elsewhere in the business. The pub industry has predicted it will be saddled with an extra £35m wage bill this year because of the National Living Wage, which was introduced on 1 April. Meanwhile, Belgian coffee shop chain Le Pain Quotidien has stopped paid breaks for staff, reports The Guardian. Staff had new terms and conditions imposed just over a month ago, offsetting a rise in their basic pay from about £6.80 an hour, just over the National Minimum Wage, to the new National Living Wage of £7.20 an hour for over-25s. The removal of paid breaks effectively wipes out the pay increase promised by the National Living Wage.

Propelinfonews – LGA – ‘food businesses in England should be forced to show hygiene scores’: The Local Government Association (LGA) is calling for the mandatory display of hygiene ratings at restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, sandwich shops, supermarkets and delicatessens in England. The organisation, which represents 370 local authorities in England and Wales, said the move would “drive up standards and protect consumers from the risk of eating food prepared and cooked in unsanitary kitchens”. Council environmental health teams score outlets from zero to five based on factors such as kitchen cleanliness, cooking methods and food management, but businesses in England do not have to display the so-called “scores on the doors” ratings they have been given. Compulsory ratings already exist in Wales and will be introduced in Northern Ireland in October. The hygiene scores for more than 412,000 English premises can currently be found on the Food Standards Agency’s website but businesses across the country should by law be forced to display their stickers at their premises or face fines or prosecution if they fail to comply, said the LGA. The mandatory display of food hygiene ratings is supported by the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health and consumer organisation Which?

Propelinfonews – New Mexican restaurant concept opens in Cleethorpes: A new Mexican restaurant concept has opened in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. Suti Thirukumaran has launched Chino Chino in Market Place, creating ten jobs. The 70-cover venue serves Tex-Mex style and traditional Mexican dishes and transforms into a wine bar on Fridays. Saturdays and Sundays after the restaurant closes at 10pm. Thirukumaran, who is originally from Sri Lanka and has experience working as a chef in a London-based Mexican restaurant, told the Grimsby Telegraph: “Cooking is a passion of mine and ever since I started, I wanted to open up my own restaurant. It’s every chef’s dream. I’m really excited. It has taken us three months to get everything in place. And it has taken me ten years to plan it.”

Wednesday 4/5/16

Propelinfonews – Metro Inns turns away from tenancies at will to focus on five key sites: Suffolk-based pub operator Metro Inns has said it has reduce the number of sites operated as tenancies at will to operate five key sites. Operations director Sean Driscoll said: “We used to do a lot of tenancies at will but are now quite happy to consolidate our business. That said, if the right pub with the right deal becomes available we would always consider the challenge.” Two of the sites are with Greene King, two with Enterprise Inns, and the other is with Hawthorn Leisure. The company has just completed a refurbishment of its Greene King site, The Masons Arms in Bury St Edmunds, which was the last pub it acquired in 2013. It follows the refurbishment earlier this year of its other Greene King site, The Kicking Dickey in Great Dunmow, Essex. Driscoll said following the Masons’ £250,000 refurbishment when the company took over, the pub had traded “far beyond all expectations” and was in need of a “freshen up”. The interior of the pub has been redecorated and some modifications have been made to the back bar while the courtyard garden has been transformed to create an open space with 25% of the available seating being designated a no smoking area.

Thursday 5/5/16

Propelinfonews – City Pub Company opens Cheltenham and Cambridge sites: City Pub Company has opened a venue on the site of an Edwardian fire station in Cheltenham and another in a former bicycle shop in Cambridge, its third in the city. The Fire Station in St James Square has opened following a £600,000 refurbishment and features a robata grill, which influences the menu, offering “meat cooked over English oak with an open flame”. The venue features a main bar area with a private dining room upstairs. City Pub Company has also converted what was formerly the oldest bicycle shop in England into The Old Bicycle Shop in Cambridge, an all-day craft beer bar and brasserie. Decor at the venue in Regent Street includes a number of quirky features to reflect the site’s heritage, such as a vintage-style delivery bike mounted at the front of the site. The bulk of the space available to drinkers and other customers is on the ground floor, with a private dining space on the first floor. Cheltenham was among key towns and cities City Pub Company targeted late last year as it announced plans to build a 30-strong portfolio by the end of 2017. It currently has 23 sites across its two companies – City Pub Company (East) and City Pub Company (West) – with a second outlet in Winchester due to start trading this year.

Friday 6/5/16

Hospitalitynet.org – How to Create the Perfect Facebook Page for your Hotel: So you want to learn how to create the perfect Facebook page for your hotel? Considering Facebook is home to more than 1.4 billion monthly active users, and is fast becoming a center for customer relations, you’re making a smart move. Facebook can be a major factor in generating customers, by building a relationship with the customer and establishing trust, so it is important to really make it work. You can’t throw together a Facebook Page and expect the customers to roll in. You need to be managing it with the resources to get noticed, liked, and engaged with – so here’s how!  Read More

Propelinfonews – McManus Pub Company sells Northampton site to new Chinese restaurant concept: McManus Pub Company has sold one of its sites in Northampton town centre. The company closed the Bootleggers in Wellingborough Road last November and owner Paul McManus has sold it to a couple who are setting up a Chinese restaurant. Bootleggers, which had an American diner theme, was formerly known as The Workhouse pub. New owner Yee Ling told the Northampton Chronicle a refurbishment was currently taking place and it was hoped the restaurant, called Moso, would open by July offering a fusion of Asian foods. McManus Pub Company operates 15 sites, which are mainly in Northampton with two in Essex.