British restaurant chains gird for sharper sting from inflation

A waiter speaks with customers at a Wagamama cafe in London, Britain, Oct 5, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

May 24 (Reuters) – The house owners of British cafe chains Wagamama and Upper Crust warned on Tuesday inflation would worsen this year as the war in Ukraine exacerbates a rise in foods, commodity and power prices.

The warnings come as British homes face a significant value-of-living squeeze from the greatest inflation in four many years and restaurant operators endeavor to recuperate from the havoc wreaked by the pandemic.

Restaurant Team Plc (RTN.L), operator of Asian food items chain Wagamama and Italian-American-themed Frankie & Benny’s restaurants, projected food stuff and drink inflation to reach 9% to 10% this yr, compared with a 5% estimate provided in March.

SSP Team Plc (SSPG.L), which runs the Higher Crust brand name of sandwich outlets along commuter routes, claimed it anticipated inflation to “stage up” as a result of the 2nd half and into next 12 months.

“The place there is small labour availability, this is also resulting in higher labour fees,” SSP claimed in a statement.

The Ukraine disaster and worldwide provide chain disruptions that commenced during the pandemic have spurred price tag improves throughout the world, earning anything from gasoline to foods more highly-priced.

The two SSP and Cafe Team are having actions to protect their business enterprise from inflation. SSP stated it was endorsing additional lucrative menu objects, even though Restaurant Group mentioned it was operating with its offer chain partners to mitigate the affect.

Still, Restaurant Group posted more robust like-for-like revenue across its Wagamama and pub places for the yr-to-date period of time as more diners frequented eating places than a year previously.

FTSE 250-stated (.FTMC) SSP noted a considerably scaled-down half-yearly decline and mentioned it anticipated revenue to near pre-pandemic stages in the 2nd 50 % of the year, as people journey a lot more and return to offices.

Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru Enhancing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Aditya Soni

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