The Market

A commitment to navigating the market despite obstacles

Historically our sector has been resilient during downturns, as our guests have preferred to cut back on other luxuries, before cutting back on their social habits. Despite us increasing prices ahead of the level of increases of recent years, we have seen strong sales and volume performances across the business. Consumer confidence appears to have bottomed out, as the worst of the utility crises seems to be behind us. Food prices remain high in the supermarkets, but even here there is better news in terms of their likely stabilisation, and this along with lighter and warmer nights, is probably driving improving consumer confidence. So, we remain optimistic about our guests continuing to want to come out to our brands. Interestingly, the ‘at-home delivery’ market has suffered as a result of more people coming out again, which adds further weight to the argument that people are social animals and want to come out for the experience.

All that said, there is no denying that the last three years has driven a marked reduction in market supply. It is always difficult to prove a direct impact on our sales as supply comes out, however it must be the case that market shrinkage in terms of unit numbers, has to be a positive for those that remain. It also emphasises that gaining market share is the key to success, which further convinces us that having a portfolio of strong and relevant brands operating in different market sectors, all with clear propositions, continues to be the right way forward.

We track our guest sentiment scores, as this is another indication of whether the things that we are doing are resonating sufficiently with our guests. Similar to the Peach Tracker, we are consistently out-scoring our peers, and given the fact that we know there is a clear correlation between superior guest scores and like for like sales, this is also encouraging.

So we are pleased with the momentum we are building on our Sales. However, given the inflationary environment, it is essential that sales do continue to grow, if we are to recover our profits to pre-Covid levels and beyond and continue on our path of de-levering the business.