Over six years ago I looked at the UK restaurant sector. At the time we Brits spent around £25b on eating out at restaurants. But according to the Office for National Statistics the amount that we spend dining out now tips the scale at almost £40b.
In theory that should be good news for restaurants. But significantly, none of the restaurants that were mentioned in the article exist in the same format, if at all, today. The likes of Oriental Restaurant Group, Belgo and Groupe Chez Gerard are but faint memories, save reminisces of severe indigestion that these businesses caused investors over the years. Others that included PizzaExpress and ASK have been rolled up and gulped down in their entirety by predators….