New venues drive Loungers’ sales growth
Café chain Loungers has hailed the opening of its new Bristol venue, Ritorno Lounge, as its “best performing new site ever”.
It was one of 37 sites that has opened in the last year, with another 18 planned for the next six months.
Loungers chief executive Nick Collins said the success of its new harbourside venue “is particularly gratifying given Bristol is the city in which the Loungers story first started 22 years ago”.
The group, which now has 273 sites, increased sales by 19%, to £178m, in the half-year, driven by the new openings but aided by organic growth.
Loungers chief executive Nick Collins said: “I am delighted with our performance and the consistency of our sales growth, both in terms of like-for-like growth in the mature estate as well as the strength of our new openings.
“From what we are seeing across our sites, UK consumers are feeling increasingly confident and want to go out and enjoy themselves across all parts of the day. That confidence, combined with the variety, breadth, flexibility and relevance of our all-day offering, is reflected in our continued sales success.”
Loungers has revealed like-for-like sales growth of 4.7% in the 24 weeks to October 6, maintaining the trend seen earlier in the year.
The group told shareholders that it “is another clear demonstration of Loungers’ ability to consistently outperform the broader UK hospitality market”.
It added that it continues to make “good progress” towards its target of returning to its pre-Covid EBITDA margin, of 13.5%.
