Hospitality group Mission Mars progress out of this world
Manchester restaurants and bars group, Mission Mars, has achieved strong growth across the group over the past two years.
The chain, which has 28 venues across the UK including three Albert’s Schloss bars and 23 Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana, said its wet and dry revenue for fiscal year 2023 totaled £67.4m, compared with £44.3m in 2022, with its Albert’s Schloss brand contributing £32.1m (FY22 £21.6m) and Rudy’s £29.3m (FY22 £16.1m).
On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of VAT, Albert’s Schloss, which currently has venues in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool, delivered growth of six per cent in FY23, while Rudy’s delivered 24%. Both brands were around 15% ahead of their comparable market segments in the Peach Coffer Tracker for the same period.
Group unaudited EBITDA for the period was £8.6m (FY22 £5.2m) excluding pre-opening costs.
Heading into the 2024 financial year, trade across the first eight weeks has been encouraging, with group revenue totaling £11.9m (FY23 £8.4m). Like-for-like performance continues in a similar trend to FY23 with bars four per cent ahead and Rudy’s up 18%, both considerably outperforming their sectors.
Early Christmas trade has been positive and combined pre-booked covers for its three Albert’s Schloss are up 17% on the prior year.
Chief executive, Roy Ellis, said: “Despite numerous challenges, our team has delivered an industry leading Group Guest Experience score of 78% in FY23, an increase of four per cent versus the same period in the prior year. This positive trend has continued into FY24.
“The group is spending a significant amount of time monitoring, analysing, and responding to the external pressure the sector is facing. We have been delighted to reduce our colleague turnover to the lowest levels we have seen and are determined to improve further through continued investment in our training, development and team engagement initiatives.”
He added: “We opened our Pizzaiolo and Management Training academy in the summer of 2023 and have committed to remain a Real Living Wage employer in FY24.
“Strong trading across all venues for a sustained period gives us confidence that both our Albert’s Schloss and Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana brands are well set to deliver growth and are likely to trade successfully in all parts of the UK. We continue to search for the best locations with 12 new Rudy’s and one new Albert’s Schloss currently in legals.”
Known for its mix of Bavarian bier halle, cosy Alpine hospitality and seven days of showtime, Albert’s Schloss is set to open its first venue in London next summer and work is progressing well on the former Rainforest Cafe site on Shaftesbury Avenue.
The Rudy’s Pizzeria group, which was recently voted as one of the world’s Excellent Pizzeria Chains by the Top 50 Top World Artisan Pizza Chains 2023, has opened four sites before Christmas, and aims to open a further 10 pizzerias in financial year 2024.
