08/03/2022
UKHospitality (UKH) has called for the Government to make pavement licenses permanent in order for the sector to make a faster post-pandemic recovery, reports Morning Advertiser. According to the trade body, outdoor dining and drinking areas ensured survival for some hospitality businesses when restrictions prohibited serving customers indoors, and have become hugely popular over the past years, due to the Covid pandemic. The temporary scheme was first introduced in April 2021 but is due to end this September, however, UKH has called on the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to make the licenses a permanent fixture.
Hospitality businesses across the UK are reporting increases of 150% on pre-pandemic energy bills, with an average above 100%, equivalent to an £800m additional cost to the sector, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). The trade body says that cost increases on this scale risk wiping out already narrow margins publicans receive and could have a knock-on effect on pricing. The BBPA says that there has been an increase in the number of utilities providers refusing to take on new accounts or renew contracts if they are linked with hospitality, advises Pub & Bar.
Just Eat has launched an initiative to reduce chip portion sizes in venues after a study found that chips are the most wasted takeaway food. Its study, the Food Waste Race, undertaken in partnership with environmental charity Hubbub, found that 72% of participants had had leftover chips after eating their takeaway meals. As a result, the company is launching a trial with a group of its restaurant partners to offer a smaller 'waster less' chip portion size, reports Big Hospitality.
Greene King has saved over 24,000 plastic biscuit and sweets tubs from landfill, thanks to its Tub2Pub recycling scheme, advises Caterer Licensee Hotelier News. Greene King partneredwith co-cre8 who specialise in designing systems to collect and recycle 'hard-to-recycle' materials. The plastic from the empty tubs is turned into granulated plastic which can then be sold to manufacturers, avoiding the use of virgin plastic.
Pub group JD Wetherspoon (JDW) has revealed it has awarded 83% of its free shares and bonus scheme to employees working in the sites over the past 16 years. As reported in the group's internal publication, Wetherspoon's News, £454m worth of bonuses and shares has been paid to workers since 2006, advises Morning Advertiser.
Deliveroo has opened its own restaurant, a neighbourhood pizzeria in Swiss Cottage, London, called Pizza Paradiso, reports Big Hospitality. The delivery giant has said the reason it wanted to open its own restaurant was to better understand the problems experienced by the restaurant owners it services across London and the world, advises Eater London.