The state of the nation
The Caterer and law firm TLT asked restaurateurs what the next 12 months will hold for the industry – here’s what they predicted. Neil Gerrard reports
M
ore than three-quarters of UK restau- rateurs expect the overall number of restaurants to expand over the next 12 months, according to research conducted by The Caterer in partnership with law firm TLT. A total of 77.7% of restaurateurs polled said they expected to see a small or significant increase in restaurant sites across the UK. Only 17.6% expected there to be no overall change, with a tiny 4.6% of those surveyed expecting a small or significant decrease. And it was casual-dining and fast-casual businesses that were the most likely to increase the number of their restaurant sites. Nonetheless, the results also pointed to some of the significant challenges to achieving growth. Principle among them was finding a suitable site, which 66% rated as the most sig- nificant, ahead of recruiting suitable staff (53%) and the expense of acquiring the site (38%). London was seen as the city offering the greatest opportunity for growth (48% of respondents), followed by Birmingham (17%) and Bristol (16%). And when it came to the type of location restaurateurs were after, 49% said they wanted to be on a town or suburb high street, while 40% favoured a prime city centre location. Acquiring a leasehold site was the most pop-
ular method of increasing the number of res- taurants in a business, followed by freehold. The key factor when it came to acquiring a leasehold properly was the duration of the lease (chosen by 68% of respondents), fol- lowed by the basis of rent reviews (56%), and the obligation to maintain and repair (46%). ● The results of The Caterer and TLT’s research were discussed by a panel of top casual-dining and fast-casual restaurateurs. To discover their thoughts on the findings, see the round table feature on page 8.
4 | Insight Report
Top 10 cities for opening
Edinburgh 10%
new restaurants If you were to open some new restaurant sites, which cities would offer the greatest opportunities for growth? (Respondents were allowed to give more than one answer)
Glasgow 7% Leeds 11% York 7% Manchester 14%
Liverpool 15% Birmingham 17%
London 48%
Bristol 16% Cardiff 13%
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