Apologies for the lack of updates on the blog recently. Things have been rather hectic in the Alliance Online office over the Christmas and New Year period – apparently people like to do a lot of shopping around then… who knew?
We’ll try to get back to some regular posting here now though, starting with a look at the latest news in the catering and hospitality industry.
Sales continue to rise
The British public continues to go out to eat and drink to the benefit of the country’s biggest pub and restaurant chains.
The leading pub, bar and casual dining groups saw combined like-for-like sales ahead 1% in September, compared to the same month last year. It marks the 4th consecutive month of positive same-outlet sales.
The monthly figures from the Coffer Peach Business Tracker monitor performances across 17 major pub and restaurant operators, including Mitchells & Butlers, Whitbread, Pizza Hut, Punch Pub Co, Gondula and Tragus.
Total sales for September, including those from new openings, were ahead 2.3% on September last year and up 15.1% on the previous month of August.
Tons of food chucked away
Super-sized restaurant portions are contributing to an annual waste mountain that sees chefs throw away hundreds of thousands of tons of food that is fit to eat, new research claims.
Britain’s restaurants throw away more than 600,000 tons of food each year, or 22 tons per eatery, meaning that half a kilo of food is wasted every time someone eats out, according to the first detailed snapshot of the sector.
Nearly one-third of all wasted food comes back from diners’ plates, suggesting that British restaurateurs are following the lead set by their American counterparts and serving portions that are too large.
The bulk of the rest is thrown away during preparation, says a report from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. But SRA boss Simon Heppner said not all the country’s 27,000 restaurants were careless: “There is definitely a different between different eatery types. Independents want to put more on plates to show they are offering good value while big chains have quietly trimmed back the amount dished up in an attempt to save money.”
Tips system being abused
A year after the Labour Government launched an industry-wide voluntary code of practice in a bid to close a loophole allowing employers to count tips towards wages, there are claims the tipping system is still being abused.
Unite union officer Dave Turnbull, complaining that catering staff are still not getting fair tips, said: “There are too many employers who regard tips as subsidy for low pay. They see the tips and service charge money left by customers as a pot of cash to which they are free to help themselves.”
With the union calling on the Government to review the tips code, saying it has “totally failed”, chefs are calling for catering operators to keep their hands off the tips.
Thanks for catering News.