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On-trade

    One third of hospitality businesses are operating at a loss

    The number of hospitality businesses operating at a loss has increased by 11% in just the last quarter. Industry bodies are now calling for a reversal to NI changes, a VAT reduction for hospitality and lower business rates. Hospitality businesses are buckling under the pressure of £3.4billion in extra costs that hit the sector in April, according to a new survey of hospitality operators from across the sector. One third of hospitality businesses are now operating at a loss, 11% higher than last quarter. Trade bodies UKHospitality, The British Institute of Innkeeping, the British Beer & Pub Association, and Hospitality Ulster have said recent increases to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and the changes to Business Rates on hospitality businesses are to blame. “Hospitality is vital to the UK economy but is under threat from ongoing costs rises, which the April increases have only exacerbated. Jobs are being lost, livelihoods under threat, communities set to lose precious assets, and consumers are experiencing price rises when wallets are already feeling the pinch," the industry bodies said in a joint statement. According to the survey undertaken in May, 6 in 10 report that they have had to cut jobs, and 63% have reduced the hours available to staff, in order to try and mitigate the increases and stay afloat. More than half of operators said they have been forced to cancel investment. The impact is also being passed on to consumers and the wider economy as 76% of hospitality operators reporting they have had to increase prices. The trade bodies are calling for a reversal to Employer National Insurance changes, a VAT reduction for hospitality and expedited delivery of lower business rate multipliers. They said that without swift action, Government targets, including ambitions to hit 80% employment and high street renewal, look "doomed to fail". In a joint statement, the trade bodies said: “The Government seems to be setting itself up to miss its own targets with these most recent cost hikes for the hospitality sector." The statement continued: “The Government must act urgently to mitigate for the changes to Employer NICs and also deliver on its promise of root and brand Business Rates reform. The overall tax burden on our sector must be reduced, including consideration of the long-standing ask of a VAT cut for the sector, so the hospitality industry can return to investment, job creation, and growth in communities the length and breadth of the country.”

    Jersey lifts happy hour ban

    The Channel Island of Jersey has removed its ban on on-trade drinks promotions almost 40 years after the policy was implemented. The ban on happy hours, 2-for-1 drinks deals and bottomless brunches had been in place on Jersey since 1987. The policy was itself an amendment to the Licensing (Jersey) Law 1974. A recent public consultation regarding licensing laws on the island found that 89% felt they should be updated, 68% wanted the six categories of on-licence to be reduced to one, and 48% suggested that alcoholic drinks promotions and pricing should be left up to the license holding businesses themselves, not the government. The body which pushed Jersey's Attorney General for the ban to be dropped was the Jersey Hospitality Association. The association's co-CEO Marcus Calvani told regional news outlet Channel Eye: "When the guidance was put in place in 1987, there were concerns about excessive alcohol consumption in premises where prices had been significantly reduced. That was nearly 40 years ago and more recently, across the board rises in costs have meant pubs, bars and restaurants were being significantly undercut by off-licence traders, leading people to buy cheap alcohol in shops and drink significantly more than if they were out meeting friends." "The cost of products and operating won’t reduce, but we hope that the removal of this barrier to business will encourage more Islanders and visitors to go out, enjoy what our industry has to offer, socialise more often in licensed establishments and have some more affordable fun," added Calvani, who then urged businesses to use this new-found freedom "responsibly" for fear of the old rule being re-introduced.

    Heineken named ‘best supplier’ in on-trade report

    Heineken has been identified as the leading drinks supplier to British pubs and bars, according to a new report. The beer, cider and pub company recently achieved the highest score of 65 in 2024’s Advantage Report Voice of the Customer, showing that it was significantly outperforming its competitors, with a score of 19 marking the average for the 26 participating suppliers included. Respondents in the 2024 Advantage Report Voice of the Customer program included leading national pub groups including: Stonegate, Greene King, Fuller Smith & Turner and Admiral Taverns. However, according to its ratings, Heineken’s UK arm still demonstrated market leadership amongst the highly competitive group of suppliers. Speaking about the accolade, Heineken UK on-trade director Will Rice said, “We have invested significant time and energy to understand the needs of pub operators, both large and small, and how we can better support them, so being recognised in this way is a massive testament to our efforts.” Rice explained: “This is a hugely tough time for the sector, so although we’re delighted with the results of this year’s Advantage Report, we will utilise this insight to further support UK pubs, bars and restaurants to grow their businesses in 2025 and beyond.” Advantage Group UK and Ireland’s managing director Andrew Johnston noted how the report “saw over 100 on-trade customers take the opportunity to provide feedback on their suppliers’ engagement with their businesses” and agreed that Heineken was, according to the on-trade customers, “the best supplier to do business with” and highlighted how the channel is “one of our most competitive” which means that for the business “to achieve best-in-class is a credit to Heineken's breadth of business capability across their go-to-market proposition”. The Advantage Report has always, historically, set out to give clients “a benchmarked view of performance as rated by their business partners” and also a means of giving back to the sector by “providing them with valuable data regarding their business relationships’ strengths, weaknesses and opportunities”.

    Torres Brandy to host Zero Challenge final in Barcelona

    Family-owned Spanish brandy Torres is set to announce the winner of its third annual sustainable hospitality challenge in Barcelona on 27 March. The final of Torres Brandy's Zero Challenge will take place this year on 25-27 March in Barcelona, Spain. The three-day event will unite hospitality professionals worldwide, with each participant presenting a sustainable project to enhance the hospitality industry and minimise its socio-environmental impact. An international panel of experts will assess the submitted projects. The winning proposal will receive €30,000 (US$31,400) to bring their vision to life in their venues. Each proposal must tackle specific socio-environmental challenges and demonstrate a measurable impact, such as reducing CO2 emissions, minimising waste, recycling materials, or promoting social inclusion, among other relevant aspects. The Zero Challenge was established to encourage environmental commitment within the hospitality industry and to raise awareness about the urgent need to combat climate change. This initiative builds on the work Familia Torres has been doing in the wine sector for over 15 years. In 2025, the international competition by Torres Brandy expanded its reach to include more countries and a wider variety of projects. In addition to the bar industry, this year, applications were also open to restaurant teams. In its first year, the competition crowned bartender Giacomo Giannotti, owner of Paradiso in Barcelona, for his project titled 'Zero Waste Lab.' This winning concept focused on reusing and managing waste to convert plastic into utensils for use in his bar. In the second year, Mexican entrepreneur Alberto del Toro won the prize with his project 'Taller Zero: Giving a Second Chance.' Del Toro's initiative aimed to transform discarded glass bottles into ashtrays, cups, and lamps while also providing employment opportunities for older individuals at risk of labour exclusion. This year, the finalists' projects will be evaluated in four key areas: the concept, sustainability, the business plan, and future growth. The 2025 competition welcomes participants from three continents and 11 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, Romania, South Korea, and Greater China. Contestants selected from each country will compete in their national finals throughout February before travelling to Barcelona for the global final.

    Hallgarten Wines launches new fine wine service

    Hallgarten Wines is launching a new way for UK retailers and hospitality buyers to purchase exception fine Bordeaux from back vintages that are ready to drink now. The new initiative, called The Cellar Series, is the result of a partnership with négociant La Compagnie Médocaine des Grands Crus. Hallgarten & Novum Wines is aiming to change the way that premium retail and hospitality buyers buy fine wines with the launch of an initiative that makes a selection of vintage Bordeaux available in their prime drinking window. The Cellar Series, which has been curated by Hallgarten’s buyer Robert Mathias MW (the UK’s youngest Master of Wine) and the company's négociant partner La Compagnie Médocaine des Grands Crus comprises a selection of prestigious wines from Bordeaux. The wines have come direct from the some of the region’s finest chateaux and estates, across appellations and communes, ranging from Cru Bourgeois to First Growth customers and including a selection of vintages that are in their prime drinking window. The wines will be available to the hospitality and retail sectors, circumventing the traditional route for fine wine from the most famous chateaux in Bordeaux, via the broking, collectors and trading routes. The list comprises 92 wines, including a Lafite Rothschild 1er Grand Cru Classé from the 2002 vintage, a Château Montrose 2eme Grand Cru Classé Saint Estephe 1998, a Suduiraut 1er Grand Cru Classé Sauternes 2016, Chateau d’Issan 2010 and wines from Mouton Rothschild, Château Figeac, Château Phélan Ségur, Château Leoville Las Cases, Château Pichon Baron, Cos d'Estournel, Château Ducru Beaucaillou, Château Talbot, Château Armailhac and second wines from Carruades De Lafite and Pagodes De Cos, among others. The Cellar Series, which will be unveiled at a tasting in London on 25 February, enhances the company’s focus on fine wines, offering customers ongoing access to some exclusive parcels of iconic wines, it said. Michael Saunders, CEO of parent company Coterie Holdings said that he had identified a gap in the market for premium Bordeaux wines, direct from the Châteaux, that are currently in their optimum drinking window, a number of years ago. "So often the emphasis is on providing the trade with the latest vintage of a wine – which is often what is demanded – however when it comes to regions such as Bordeaux, venues need access to older vintages, that are ready to drink now," he said. "Through our partnership with the great Châteaux, alongside Compagnie Medocaine des Grands Crus, we are able to achieve this” Jim Wilson, portfolio director at Hallgarten & Novum Wines said that sourcing fine wines in the premium hospitality and retail sectors as an operator was “no mean feat” but that this initiative presented the “ideal solution” for the trade. “The Cellar Series brings together some of the most prestigious producers and the finest wines, with the UK’s best sommeliers and wine buyers to provide wine lovers with access to the wines they want to drink, when they want to drink them,” he said. "Bordeaux has been in my blood since a young age, so it only felt right to launch The Cellar Series with wines exclusively from this iconic region," Saunders added. According to Mathias, Bordeaux remains at the pinnacle of the fine wine market and will always have a place on wine lists at the country’s best venues. “With The Cellar Series we are able to offer the hospitality and retail trade a complete solution for their fine wine lists and provide wine lovers with the best bottles available on the market,” he said. Hallgarten & Novum Wines is one of the UK's leading specialist wine distributors, having been established in 1933. In December 2023 it was purchased by Coterie Holdings, the parent company of fine wine merchant Lay & Wheeler, Coterie Vaults and fine wine valuation and lending specialists Jera, as well as Global Wine Solutions, a leading provider of fine wine and spirits to the superyacht industry, which was added to the portfolio in December 2024. Speaking to db in June last year, Coterie revealed its ambitious plans to grow the business internationally and become a “repository of fine wine data”.

    Boom in low-alcohol beers in UK

    Fresh figures have shown that the UK has become one of the fastest growing markets for low ABV beers, following the change in alcohol duty introduced last summer. According to figures shown to the Financial Times by data company IWSR, sales of low-alcohol beer have doubled from 650,000 hectolitres in 2023 to almost 1.3 million last year. It means that the UK's growth of the sector is double its nearest competition globally, which was the South American nation state of Venezuela, with Romania and Japan ranking jointly third. Overall, it has seen the UK become the eighth largest market across the world for low-alcohol beer, which is a rise from being ranked in 13th in 2022.The news follows the taxation reform in August 2023, where 3.5% ABV and under beers were taxed less than beers above this ABV, and classified as low strength drinks. Recipe changes A slew of macro brewers and drinks giants quickly changed recipes to get around the new taxation rules, resulting in a large number of the UK's most popular lagers having their ABV slashed to under 3.5%. Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) reduced its flagship beer from 3.8% ABV to 3.4% ABV and Heineken reduced its John Smith's Extra Smooth brand from 3.6% to 3.4% ABV. According to analysis based on the shift in ABV, Carlsberg will pay £9.27 for every litre of alcohol now for its Danish Pilsner as it falls into the under 3.5% ABV threshold, compared to £20.01 per litre for beers that are between 3.5% and 8.5% ABV. Asahi-owned Dark Star has also recently reduced its Hophead to 3.4% from 3.8%. Other brewers have launched new products into the under-3.5% ABV such as BrewDog's Cold Beer, which is 3.4%. Quadrupled In addition, the British Beer and Pub Association said the vast majority of pubs — 87% — served at least one low- or no-alcohol beer. Although the majority of these are still in bottles and cans, the number of low- and no-alcohol beers served on draught has quadrupled since 2019. Most recently, Guinness has undertaken a large investment in its 0.0 de-alcoholised variant of its flagship beer, firstly expanding onto keg across the Irish on-trade, before bringing it to the UK through a trial at Soho pub The Devonshire, and now beyond into the wider on-trade.

    Will High Street Rental Auctions ruin Britain’s historic pubs?

    On its surface, the decision to allow vacant pubs to be brought back into use is a positive step forward for the British high street. But the reality brings about the risk of venues being gutted in favour of redevelopment. The Government has confirmed that the High Street Rental Auctions plan will come into effect in September, making vacant properties available via auctions. The scheme will give local authorities the ability to instigate an auction on properties that have remained vacant, in the hopes of removing empty sites and encouraging new high street business investments. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the Government had rightly identified hospitality businesses as "the bellwether of local economies". “The proposals to allow vacant properties to be brought into use via auction will create opportunities for hospitality businesses to move into high streets, generating local investment and creating places where people want to live. Nicholls said she was "pleased that protections for pub sites have been addressed" as the decision will "help protect the cultural and historic role pubs play in our society". However, the decision by Government has come under fire from other areas of the hospitality trade, who argue that the way the scheme is being actioned will put historic pubs at risk. Gary Timmins, pub and club campaigns director for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said the news was "disappointing". Commenting on the publication of the Government response to the consultation on High Street Rental Auctions, Timmins called it "yet another missed opportunity". “Campaigning to see vacant pubs brought back into use is one of CAMRA’s core objectives and the proposals for High Street Rental Auctions had the potential to be a really positive move, particularly the proposal’s focus on community uses," he said. "We know that pubs can increase and expand footfall on the high street, and we hoped Government understood this too. “However, it was vital that pubs kept their planning protection under the scheme. CAMRA called on Government to ensure that pubs that became part of the High Street Rental Auction scheme weren’t gutted of their fittings ahead of bids for the premises, and this recommendation hasn’t been taken forward – leaving developers a clear path to permanently converting these venues. Timmins cited the recent Crooked House scandal, in which the Black Country pub's destruction was treated as arson by local Staffordshire Police. He said that "current planning protections for pubs simply aren’t fit for purpose". He continued: "High Street Rental Auctions could have been a chance for Government to take a fresh approach and affirm their support for pubs. Instead, their response to this consultation is looking like yet another missed opportunity." The Government has created provisions for Local Authorities to set the uses for which bids will be permitted CAMRA is urging the Trailblazer Authorities that will trial High Street Rental Auctions to make use of this provision, to protect high street pubs from what it calls "unscrupulous redevelopment".

    The Sideways effect: Brits break up with Merlot

    British consumers have fallen out of love with Merlot as a single-varietal wine, new research shows, but which other grapes are winning market share in the on-trade? Merlot has lost more than 2% of its market share of premium on-trade still wines in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, according to a report by Liberty Wines. The report analysed the state of wine in the premium on-trade for the year to summer 2023 compared with 2019 figures in order to better understand how tastes have evolved. White and rosé wines have recovered well, both achieving a larger share of premium on-trade still wine sales since 2019. This has been at the expense of red wine, which has lost 3% of its share since 2019. Rosé was also the only colour which increased its sales volume by 2023, while increasing its sales value by 15%. Despite volume decline, consumers are willing to pay more on red wine now than they were in 2019. Average red and white wine spend per bottles has increased by approximately 20% for both colours since 2019. Riesling, Semillon, Viognier, Grüner Veltliner, Nebbiolo, Corvina and Barbera have all seen strong growth since 2019. Tom Platt, CEO of Liberty Wines, argued that the British on-trade has seen a "shift towards consumers drinking a wider range of wines". But by far the biggest success story comes from Gamay, with sales up 35% on 2019. Consumers are pushing away from heavier, more alcoholic red wines, but lighter styles are en vogue, meaning great things for Beaujolais. Pinot Noir has suffered in the years since the pandemic, but Liberty Wines chalked this up to a lack of affordability, with the average price for Pinot Noir increasing by 28% since 2019. Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo have all also lost market share compared to 2019.

    Using cloud-based software to optimise hybrid working with Bevica

    As businesses use January to take stock of their positions, Bevica shows how cloud-based systems can meet the challenges of hybrid working. With the festive season (plus a good rest) behind them, drinks businesses are now looking to 2024 in earnest. It can be easy to fall back into an old routine, planning stock levels, reaching out to new prospects and setting targets. However, in the usually slow start of the year, there is ample time to make larger changes. Since we often set New Year’s resolutions in our personal lives, why not apply the same principles of resetting and improving our practices to our professional lives? That, at least, is the message from Bevica this January. The business, a dedicated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution for the drinks industry, is advising companies to take a look at their current finance and operational software solutions and check whether they are fit for 2024. Hybrid working: the new normal Keeping up-to-date in IT has always been important, where advances are rapid and becoming obsolete is a risk. However, the past few years have changed working habits, and systems must keep up. According to last year’s most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, 40% of UK working adults spent some of their time working from home, compared to just 12% in 2019. Software systems, vital to any modern business, must accommodate a hybrid work model. The Bevica team suggests, therefore, to mark the New Year by ensuring that essential systems have all the features and functionality required to perform optimally in this new normal. As a cloud-based ERP system, powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Bevica has been designed as a cloud-native solution that can meeting these growing demands The desk at home can be as productive as the office if a business’s cloud computing system is effective. With Bevica, both front-end and back-end tasks can be performed anywhere and on any device. Crucially, this functionality is designed into the product, rather than relying on complex workarounds to make an outdated system work. The software ensures that no time or energy is wasted when accessing key functions remotely. Remote access to business information For those in a client facing role, the easy access has another benefit. When visiting clients without the usual office setup, the latest business information is still available to the sales team. With ready access to Bevica on mobile devices and tablets, sales representatives can access and display the latest stock reports at a moment’s notice. Showcasing flexibility and ease of use even in an initial meeting can make a great first impression, so it is a useful consideration in choosing any ERP software. Even without a client to impress, immediate and simple access to data is advisable. Having completely up-to-date reports at your fingertips allows informed and more accurate decision-making. Rather than days spent bouncing emails between team members, during which figures may become out of date, modern ERP systems can facilitate instant access with real-time data. In Bevica’s case, this covers everything from simple data sheets to in-depth analysis powered by Microsoft’s leading data visualisation tool, Power BI. A secure and up to date system Of course, any New Year’s resolution can be intimidating. However, cloud-based software is less intimidating than many would assume. Data remains secure thanks to regular software updates. Not only does Business Central undergo two major updates each year but the drinks-specific Bevica features also follow the same biannual schedule. It can be simple to lose the best aspirations in the day-to-day work of a business. However, just one bold decision can make a huge impact. Though 2024 has barely begun, a thoughtful New Year’s Resolution such as making the move to Bevica could dramatically affect the year’s performance. To find out more about Bevica, book your place on one of the ‘Introduction to Bevica’ webinars. Dates in early 2024 include Wednesday, 31 January 2024 and Wednesday, 14 February 2024.

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