Friday 16 October: Hospitality giants pledge 100,000 youth jobs as sector targets NEET crisis

Show Notes

Major operators including Whitbread and Stonegate partner with government to offer work placements, while Rosa’s Thai and Mollie’s report strong trading results.

Collated, not reported. Ops Club did not break these stories, the trade press did. This is a signpost to them.

Scripted and read by AI from the Ops Club written edition. The stories are the trade press's, the selection is ours.

In this briefing

Results & trading updates: Rosa’s Thai turnover hits £55.6m as group eyes 2027 pipeline; Mollie’s secures £25m facility despite widening pre-tax losses; Arora Group revenue tops £350m following Gatwick acquisitions; Milestone Restaurants returns to profit on £44m turnover; Princeotels profits halve to £3.1m as margins tighten; Stable Pizza losses narrow to £1.46m

Acquisitions & investment: Tortilla seeks £2.5m to clear debt and fuel 'value plan'; PureGym enters Switzerland with £235m acquisition; Amity Brew Co secures £150k for taproom expansion; Havana West sells Sherborne and Cwmbran hotels

New openings & closures: Olive Garden seeks franchise partners for UK launch; Urban Pubs & Bars takes former BrewDog Tower Hill site; Tom Booton to open debut solo restaurant Ralphie’s; Open Restaurant Group sets Manchester date for Counter; Aba-Ra to open second Georgian site in Soho; Chick-fil-A secures second UK drive-thru approval; Wingers hits 30-site milestone with Swindon opening; Kabannas to relaunch St Pancras hotel in November; Five Akhis opens 20th site in Leicester

Trends & market data: Draught volumes return to growth as dwell times rise; UK economy beats forecasts with 0.1% August growth; Gilt yields fall as markets await Budget clarity; US menu price inflation outpaces food costs

Other industry news: NTIA warns of 'disproportionate' nightclub decline; Half of hospitality staff report 'unacceptable' behaviour; Chancellor weighs £1bn business rates raid on offices; McDonald’s trials hand-breaded chicken in Ireland

Sources

Propel Hospitality Info - Propel Friday News Briefing

Langton Capital - Rank Group, Entain, FDEV, Scotsman, jobs market, late night & other

The Caterer - Olive Garden operator seeks franchise partner for UK rollout

The Morning Advertiser - Draught volumes return to growth

City AM - UK economy grew unexpectedly after production boost

Restaurant Online - Tom Booton to make his solo debut with Ralphie’s

Hospitality & Catering News - VERiFAIR survey finds 52% experienced unacceptable workplace behaviour

The full rundown, with a link to every original story, is at ops-club.com/news/2026-10-16.

For longer conversations with the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast at ops-club.com/podcast.

Three things to think about

With dwell times up by 12 minutes, are you doing enough to capture that 'second drink' or dessert order, or is your team rushing to turn tables too early?

If you are hiring 18-24 year olds, have you checked if you are eligible for the new £3,000 government incentive to offset your training costs?

More than half of sector workers don't believe behaviour concerns will be acted on - do you have a truly independent way for your team to speak up without fear?

What is Hospitality News Briefing?

UK hospitality news, collated every weekday morning in about five minutes.

We summarise the trade press first thing so you don't have to. Each briefing
covers the results, the deals, the openings and the people moves that matter to
operators, with every story credited out loud to the publication that reported it.

We collate, we don't report. The full rundown, with links back to the original journalism, is at ops-club.com/news.

Scripted and read by AI from the Ops Club written edition. The stories are the trade press's, the selection is ours.

Three things to think about before you get on with your day, then you're done.

From Ops Club, the community for hospitality operators. For longer conversations with
the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast (https://ops-club.com/podcast)

Find us at ops-club.com for more.

Good morning. This is the Hospitality News Briefing, from Ops Club. Episode twenty one, Friday the sixteenth of October. Here is what the UK trade press reported this morning, collated for operators.

Major hospitality operators are teaming up with the government to pledge one hundred thousand youth jobs to tackle the crisis of young people not in employment or training.

Starting with trading, Rosa's Thai has seen turnover hit fifty five point six million pounds. Propel reports that the group, which is backed by TriSpan, saw like for like revenue rise eight point six per cent. They've just secured a ten point seven five million pound refinancing deal with OakNorth. Even though they haven't opened a new UK site in nine months, they've now got the capital ready for a major expansion push next year.

Mollie's has also secured a new twenty five million pound facility. Propel notes that while pre-tax losses grew to three point two million pounds last year, their Bristol and Oxfordshire sites are now profitable. Managing director Matt Bell says the model is proven, and the new shareholder money will fund a rollout of the brand across cities and roadsides.

Also in the numbers this morning, Arora Group saw revenue top three hundred and fifty million pounds after buying two more Gatwick properties. Milestone Restaurants, the franchisee behind the first McDonald's in the UK, returned to a profit of four hundred and thirty five thousand pounds on turnover of forty four million. Princeotels saw profits halve to three point one million pounds as costs hit their UK and German operations. All those are from Propel. Finally, Langton Capital reports that Stable Pizza narrowed its losses to one point four six million pounds.

On to who's buying what, Tortilla is looking for two point five million pounds to clear debt and fuel their value plan. Propel reports the chain is placing nearly three point nine million shares to repay an overdraft. It comes after a strong period where like for like sales jumped nineteen point four per cent, largely because delivery orders surged by forty five per cent.

In other investment news, City A M reports that PureGym has entered Switzerland by buying NonStop Gym for two hundred and thirty five million pounds. Amity Brew Co has raised one hundred and fifty thousand pounds to double its capacity in West Yorkshire, according to Propel. And Havana West has sold hotels in Sherborne and Cwmbran to L Q Resorts and Stay Original Group.

Turning to new openings and closures, The Caterer reports that U S group Darden is looking for franchise partners to bring Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse to the UK. In London, Urban Pubs and Bars is taking over a former BrewDog site at Tower Hill. The Morning Advertiser says a one million pound investment will see it relaunch as a Bat and Ball venue on the twenty fifth of November.

Restaurant Online reports that chef Tom Booton will open his solo debut, Ralphie's, in Belgravia this November. Open Restaurant Group is launching Counter in Manchester on the ninth of November, according to Hospitality and Catering News. Also in Soho, Aba-Ra is opening a second Georgian site on D'Arblay Street.

Four more quick ones from Propel. Chick-fil-A has approval for a second UK drive-thru in South Yorkshire. Wingers has reached thirty sites with a new opening in Swindon. Kabannas is relaunching its St Pancras hotel in November. And Five Akhis has opened its twentieth burger site in Leicester.

Bigger picture, draught volumes are growing again. The Morning Advertiser reports that beer and cider volumes rose one point three per cent in September. Dwell times are also up, with the average pub visit now lasting over two and a half hours. It shows the third space role of the pub is getting stronger, especially in suburban areas.

On the wider economy, City A M reports that the UK economy grew by zero point one per cent in August. Over at Langton Capital, they note that gilt yields have fallen. The ten-year gilt yield, which is the benchmark for what it costs businesses to borrow, dropped to five point three eight per cent. In the U S, menu price inflation is now rising faster than the cost of food itself.

Finally, some industry challenges. The N T I A is warning about a disproportionate decline in nightclubs. Propel reports that fourteen night-time businesses are closing every week. Clubs are currently excluded from the business rates relief offered to pubs, and the sector could lose a third of its venues by the end of the year.

Elsewhere, a survey in Hospitality and Catering News found half of sector staff have experienced unacceptable behaviour at work. Most don't believe that reporting it would lead to any action. In the City, the Chancellor is considering a one billion pound business rates hike for large offices, though hospitality should be exempt. And in Ireland, McDonald's is trialling hand-breaded chicken to see if it works at scale.

Three things to think about before you get on with the day.

With dwell times up by twelve minutes, are you doing enough to capture that second drink or dessert order, or is your team rushing to turn tables too early?

If you're hiring eighteen to twenty four year olds, have you checked if you're eligible for the new three thousand pound government incentive to offset your training costs?

More than half of sector workers don't believe behaviour concerns will be acted on - do you have a truly independent way for your team to speak up without fear?

The full rundown is at ops dash club dot com, where every story links back to the publication that reported it. Today's pulled from Propel Hospitality Info, Langton Capital, City AM, The Caterer, The Morning Advertiser, Restaurant Online and Hospitality and Catering News - a signpost to their reporting, not a replacement for it. Scripted and read by AI and published without a human check, so check the original before you act on anything. For longer conversations with the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast. That is your briefing. Have a great day.