A FAMILY favourite pub and restaurant chain has issued a major update after putting up hundreds of branches for sale.
Whitbread this week confirmed it’s exploring a “variety of options” for the first time.
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It comes after reports that it plans to run an auction of 250 pub restaurants, mostly Beefeater and Brewers Fayre outlets.
Confirmed in its most recent trading update, Whitbread, which also owns Premier Inn hotels, said it’s still looking to optimise its food and business offer “whilst maintaining a quality experience for our Premier Inn guests”.
It also reported an “outstanding performance” during the first three months of 2023.
The chain said its Premier Inn UK accommodation sales were up 18% compared to the last fiscal year.
Mitchells & Butlers, the owner of Harvester and Toby Carvery, is tipped to buy Whitbread’s loss-making pubs, The Times reported.
But other rivals including Greene King, Heineken and Marston’s could also be approached about the sell-off.
The chain is believed to have marked at least 250 of its 440 pubs and restaurants for sale, most of which are located close to Premier Inn hotels according to the report.
But it’s not yet clear where the pubs and restaurants earmarked for sale are located.
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It’s worth noting any potential sale won’t mean the pubs and restaurants will close for good, but instead will just continue operating under new ownership.
It comes after reports in May suggested the hospitality business was weighing up its options.
In its March annual report, it warned sales at the restaurants were falling.
It also noted that there was an “increasing divergence of performance of the hotel business and the food and beverage business.”
The business said this could negatively impact the premium Premier Inn charge for its rooms in comparison to its rivals.
Many of the company’s pubs and restaurants operate under a co-location arrangement with Premier Inn branches.
The establishments are either situated inside or next to hotels and often serve breakfast and food on behalf of its sister company.
Whitbread is not the only hospitality business suffering from a drop-off in revenues in recent months.
The Restaurant Group (TRG), which owns Frankie and Benny’s, previously announced plans to close 18 loss-making restaurants this year.
Italian restaurant chain Prezzo is closing 46 branches after being hit by soaring energy and food costs too.
In December last year, pub chain Wetherspoon announced it would be closing a total of 39 pubs.
A month later, Byron Burger fell into administration, closing nine restaurants immediately.
The chain said the closures would see over 200 people lose their jobs.
Whitbread owns and operates 785 Premier Inn hotels and hundreds of Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table restaurants and pubs.
In January 2019 it sold Costa Coffee to the Coca-Cola Company.
The company is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange and is part of the FTSE 100 Index.
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