News Fridays scraps free meals for staff By Sophie Witts


Over 1,000 people have signed a petition to protest the Fridays restaurant chain scrapping the provision of free meals for staff working shifts of 10 hours or longer. The group, formerly TGI


Fridays, said all team members would still receive subsidised discounts on food as well as other benefits. However, Unite Hospitality


said the decision showed “sheer corporate greed” during a cost of living crisis. The trade union last week launched a petition on Mega- phone.org calling for the restaurant chain to reconsider the “ill-judged move” and rein- state free staff meals. A Fridays spokesperson


said: “To provide more equita- ble benefits to everyone in our teams, we have made the deci- sion to remove free shift meals for team members working 10 hours or more from 1 May 2023. “We still offer all team mem-


bers a range of industry leading benefits, including 50% off our entire food menu and free soda during working hours, plus 50% off for up to six people which they can use all year round as many times as they wish. “However, we do recognise


that these are challenging eco- nomic times, and this will impact our teams. As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure


The company says it will continue to offer half price food to its staff, whatever length of shift they work


colleague wellbeing, we are exploring a partnership with Wagestream, the financial well- being app, to offer extra support to our employees.” Staff working shifts of under


10 hours at Fridays do not receive free meals but are eligi- ble for discounts on food. Workers at the restaurant


chain went on strike in 2018 over changes to the company’s tips policy. Posting on Twitter, Unite


Hospitality quoted one of its members as stating a meal at Fridays “costs more than what someone on minimum wage earns in an hour”. Bryan Simpson, lead organ-


iser at Unite Hospitality, told The Caterer: “What makes this


decision even more pernicious is that free and heavily subsidised meals was something our TGIs members won during their landmark strike action in 2018. “We will now be meeting our


members nationally to deter- mine our collective response, but all legal and industrial options will now be considered.” Fridays’ parent company


Hostmore delayed publication of its annual results due to ongo- ing discussions with its banks. The company runs around


90 hospitality venues under the Fridays, Fridays and Go and 63rd+1st brands.


sophie.witts@thecaterer.com London’s only Hard Rock hotel to check out


London’s only Hard Rock hotel is to take down its branding and relaunch as the Cumberland at the end of May. The 1,000-room hotel, which opened in 2019, is located oppo- site Marble Arch on the cor- ner of Oxford Street and Great Cumberland Place. It is owned and operated by the Clermont Hotel Group, which itself rebranded from its former name Great London Hospitality (Glh) at the end of last year. The company said the relaunch of the hotel was part of a shift to streamline


4 | The Caterer | 28 April 2023 Gavin Taylor, chief executive


The Hard Rock hotel will close and relaunch as the Cumberland


and reposition its 17 London properties under certain key brands, including the Cumber- land and Thistle.


officer at Clermont Hotel Group, said the partnership with Hard Rock had been “valuable” and that the hotel would continue to celebrate its musical history. The rebrand will see the expansion of the hotel’s food and beverage offer and a relaunch of its entertainment space and meeting and events areas. The first Hard Rock Café opened in London near Hyde Park in 1971 and a second Pic- cadilly site launched in 2019. Jon Lucas, chief operating officer at Hard Rock Interna-


tional, said: “London will always be a special city as the birth- place of our brand, and it’s been a privilege to offer its iconic brand of hospitality to London visitors and locals at Hard Rock hotel London since 2019. “Hard Rock International appreciates the service of all Hard Rock hotel London team members and the patronage of guests who stayed at the hotel over the past four years. We’re also grateful to Clermont Hotel Group for their partnership and wish them well as they transition the property to the Cumberland.”


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