Further potential disruptions for UK hospitality industry as strikes continue. While 42% of consumers are in favour of the recent rail worker strikes, they caused 1 in 10 Brits to alter their travel plans (increasing to 1 in 3 for those living in London) and have been estimated to have cost the UK hospitality industry up to £540m. City centres have been most affected, with Springboard reporting a decrease in footfall while it rose in market towns and Outer London, which usually benefit from home working. The findings align with those of The British Beer & Pub Association, whom reported previous strikes saw a 50% decline in on drinks trade sales in city centres. This week, 1,900 workers at the nation’s busiest port, Felixstowe, and 275 GMB members at Budweiser Brewing Group’s Samlesbury site take up eight-day industrial action over pay disputes. These strikes are critical for the industry as companies start to stock up for the first Christmas without restrictions and the upcoming World Cup. In addition, an estimated 100k litres of wine are imported through Felixstowe every month, with bulk wine from New Zealand usually landing from now through to early October. Immediate disruption has been averted so far, as businesses importing through Felixstowe have implemented contingency plans to ensure clients and consumers aren’t affected by the impact. However, there are concerns that closures could have a knock-on effect causing disruption further down the line. Source: Financial Times, The Drinks Business, YouGov, Morning Advertiser, Business Live |
Innovation helping to improve sustainability in the drinks industry. Consumer concern around the sustainability of drinks products is growing. According to PROOF Insight’s 2022 Drinks Trends Report, 76% of consumers believe that responsibility to produce environmentally friendly drinks lies with manufacturers. In the race to become sustainable and meet consumer demands, the alcohol industry has seen some exciting innovation in recent times. Scottish spirits producer Arbikie have been at the forefront of sustainable innovation, having previously released the “world’s first climate-positive gin”. Recently, the company unveiled plans to build a distillery powered by green-hydrogen, thought to be the first of its kind in the world. This comes after the company secured planning permission for a 1 MW wind turbine at their Scottish distillery, which will allow them to renewably power an electrolyser used to produce hydrogen. The green hydrogen will then be used to create steam, which will be used for heat in the distillation process. Drinks innovation has also taken other forms outside of renewable energy, such as the use of snap-packs instead of plastic rings and cardboard bottles instead of glass. Others have focused on sustainable ingredients and reducing waste. One such example of this is Toast Ale, who use bread waste as an ingredient in their beer – managing to save upwards of 2.5 million slices to date. Source: PROOF Insight 2022 Trends Report, The Spirits Business |
Hospitality Industry calls for government intervention to help with vacancy crisis. Despite a small fall in vacancies between May and July 2022 (-0.6%), the number of hospitality vacancies in the UK has risen to a record 173,000; an increase of 44,000 compared to last year. Since 2019, the number of hospitality workers in the UK has declined by 200,000, including 120,000 workers from the EU. With no imminent solution to combat the current crisis, industry leaders have renewed calls for the government to overhaul the current system. A petition calling for EU nationals to be allowed to travel to the UK to work has been launched to combat severe staff shortages, with the aim of simplifying the process and allowing hospitality workers to work in the UK in a similar fashion to seasonal work visas. This is in light of business feeling that the current system is creating barriers: lack of visa flexibility (42%), unclear and changing guidelines from the government (38%) and associated costs with visas (34%) are all cited as reasons businesses are not currently employing from the EU. In addition, British Beer & Pub Association CEO Emma McClarkin has called for the government to make it easier to recruit and retain staff such as “allowing greater flexibility in the apprenticeship levy and increasing the number of hospitality qualifications available so young people can be confident our sector provides a long-term career path”. Greene King has committed to employing 5,000 apprentices by 2025 to tackle the long term problem of vacancies but for many, a solution is needed immediately. Source: Morning Advertiser, CODE, Big Hospitality, Caterer.com, Financial Times, ONS |
Investments, Mergers & Acquisitions
Sources: Big Hospitality, Propel, Drinks Business |
Drinks Product Launches & Campaigns
Sources: Morning Advertiser, Spirits Business, Drinks Business, Drinks Retailing News |