Big name brands and companies on the verge of collapse
- Thread starter yardbird
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editor
hiraethified
I'm amazed Pizza Express has survived so long. It's like stepping into the 80s when you visit (not that I have in a long time as their pizzas are well average).
Yup this is a good point. The high streets are full of essentially the same restaurant though some focus more on pasta then pizza but still.
editor
hiraethified
Plus there's the whole trend for Instagram-luring new pizza brands (independent or faux-indie) which get rid of the stuffiness of the old businesses and know how to use social media to bring in the customers (even if the pizzas aren't much cop).
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Buy a tastecard*? They're always on offer or some deal. Often for £1. This gets you two pizzas for the price of one. Can't remember the last time I paid full price in PE. Probably around 15 years ago.
*In fact I wonder how tastecard works. If you live in a big city it gives you loads of half price restaurants. Not sure what either tastecard or the restaurant makes out of it.
Plumdaff
joy in people
This, plus Pizza Express around here has really large premises in parts of town I suspect have expensive rents. Plus, as everyone said, a whole ten people have eaten there without a voucher since 2005.
mauvais
on reddit or something
I've never heard of Tastecard but there's lots of these schemes.
AIUI, the promoter gets a cut in some form (maybe percentage, maybe upfront flat fee) and advertises the restaurant. The popularity of it is self-sustaining as a marketing business.
The restaurant loses out on that payment and obviously half the usual revenue. However in return they gain footfall, word of mouth, possibly repeat business and - depending on the scheme details like maximum voucher spend - perhaps it's not literally half revenue.
We have one here called Manchester Confidential. I've used it a fair bit and I like what they do. However though not universal there is a fairly strong correlation with businesses being on there and not much later going bust. The restaurant scene here is in heavy oversupply, there's little need to revisit even good places, and therefore some of the premise is broken. And really good places that can stand up on their own don't need to be on there.
Jennastan
Fuck off, Avon.
what??? :-O
Gaia
Urban's Village Idiot
Well Jamie's Italian has gone - which I'm ecstatic about as a) I can't stand the fat cunt and b) he treated his staff like utter shite. Wasn't it one of the places where staff were forced to pay for wastage out of their own pockets…?
I probably shouldn't say this, but I'd not cry too many tears if Oliver went bankrupt. Sadly, it ain't likely to be happening any time soon.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
The other thing is most people who go into a restaurant will order a few extras as the pizza is so "cheap". maybe a bottle of wine better than the usual one or an extra side dish. Even if they keep to a couple of cokes the mark up is damned good. Not to mention the mark up on pizza which is astronomical.
There was a massive twitter bunfight recently with the guy who runs Mcr. Conf and a chef called Gary Usher. Mr Confidential came across as a right cunt. There were also some lurid allegations of him using his position to bully restaurants into giving him free meals and special treatment or he'd give them a bad review.
discobastard
Well-Known Member
Wastage of what exactly?
Maggot
The Cake of Liberty
But it was a good joke!
editor
hiraethified
Like all jokes, it had its day.
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
Has Clinton Cards gone bust????
editor
hiraethified
Cid
Proper break this time
To be fair, here in Sheffield at least, a fair few of them are actually pretty good. And have wood-fired ovens and the like. There’s also the rise of the ‘food hall’ which apparently now means a place with lots of restaurants. Which presumably allows proprietors of small businesses to keep overheads manageable and guarantees some level of footfall, even if there’s also competition. At least while they stay fashionable...
In contrast - with their medium-large town centre properties - the old chains must have massive overheads, along with decreasing footfalls as fewer people shop and more people look elsewhere if they’re just out for food/entertainment.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
One still remains at Gatwick Airport, it is a franchise operation so unaffected by the collapse of the main restaurant group iirc.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
Not particularly well known brand to the public, I think, but crashed out with their order book collapsing over the last 10 weeks.
Furniture company folds with 252 job losses
Furniture company folds with 252 job losses
Proper Tidy
Arsed
Haven't been for years, do they still let everybody who claims it's somebody's birthday have a free cake?
Idaho
blah blah blah
I had breakfast there once. Very expensive fit out for a big empty place
mauvais
on reddit or something
I completely missed this big spat. They're both well known 'characters' so that doesn't surprise me. But I've only heard of Usher (positively) through MC, so it's a bit silly in many respects. I happened to speak to another restaurant owner - now gone bust, incidentally - about MC and they weren't a fan of either the hard sell or economics of running a promo, and didn't take it up, but they did get a positive review, so it's not always the case. I dunno, I do quite like MC in an 'arms length' way as an overall venture, and I don't feel like it's the classical cynical PR scheme, which would be an immediate repellent. But again it doesn't surprise me that the whole thing has blown up.
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
yeah, we went there for a child-friendly, post cinema meal. the food was dire - no one finished it - and it was empty save us. at 6pm on a thursday, next to a regional shopping centre and cinema. £60 for two adults and two kids, no booze. never again.
nope, no such extravigance was laid out for us. honestly, it was awful, my kids are still talking about it a month later - and not in a good way.
Maggot
The Cake of Liberty
Plus they're usually in some soulless retail park along with Halfords, Currys and Carpetworld.
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
Regarding Pizza Express , Anyone of an economics persuasion can explain their debt mountain to me? It's almost as big as Thomas Cook so why are they not going belly up?
Is it normal for a company like theirs to have so much?
Lovely phrase on the radio this morning about them canibalising themselves by selling pizzas in supermarkets
Is it normal for a company like theirs to have so much?
Lovely phrase on the radio this morning about them canibalising themselves by selling pizzas in supermarkets
Most of the debt is owed to the owners, and I think they have a few years yet until the outside creditors can call in their debt.
Most companies bought by private equity firms are laden with debt so the situation is normal. They spunk close to £100m in interest each year for the pleasure of being owned by Hony.
Man Utd are similarly leveraged, so it’s not all bad.
kenny g
Sheeple Awake!
My local PE does a roaring trade in dough balls and other foul looking food. Wetherspoons do far better pizzas and I can get pissed for under a tenner whilst feeding the fam.
Frankie and Bennies is like entering one of the battery farms I am sure their chickens are reared in. Truly repulsive cash extraction machine. Avoid.
Frankie and Bennies is like entering one of the battery farms I am sure their chickens are reared in. Truly repulsive cash extraction machine. Avoid.
They (most often) put absolutely LOADS of veg on their Mediterranean Vegetable one
And if you're only semi-hungry, the pizzas are substantial enough for a couple to share one
Only ever went to the Swansea one once, because of work colleagues organising it
.That was nearly ten years ago and the place was completely shite then, and it sounds like they've been getting ever worse over the years.
Avoid indeed
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