Peter Backman
Are we heading into a period of stability?
In this week’s issue, I discuss the latest ONS data. The most interesting thing to emerge was how pay and jobs have changed from quarter...
top of page
Peter Backman
- Mar 14
- 1 min
Is scale the secret to success?
Success, in the cut and thrust of the restaurant industry, can come with scale – but success without scale is much more difficult. Why is...
Peter Backman
- Mar 7
- 1 min
Can hospitality be delivered by an unskilled workforce?
The essence of foodservice is hospitality. It’s making the customer feel valued and cared for. Last week, I visited Amsterdam and spent...
Peter Backman
- Feb 22
- 1 min
The Margin Squeeze - when will pressures abate?
The Margin Squeeze gives a good indication of how gross profits are faring. And for most of the past twelve months they’ve been faring...
Peter Backman
- Feb 15
- 1 min
Contract catering - a sector that continually evolves
I normally write about topics that impact the restaurant market. Today I want to shift the focus to a sector that is hidden in plain...
Peter Backman
- Feb 8
- 1 min
Train strikes shift eating out locations
As a market for food, travel is complicated. It’s both where people eat while on the move – and it’s where they visit when they get on,...
Peter Backman
- Jan 31
- 1 min
Pubs had an ok Christmas, according to trading figures
In this week’s issue of WBR I revisit Christmas trading figures. My observations start from the premise that if the news is bad it won’t...
Peter Backman
- Jan 25
- 1 min
How do you keep a restaurant profitable?
What’s the difference between an entrepreneurial start up restaurant that operates out of a dark kitchen and occasionally does pop ups in...
Peter Backman
- Jan 16
- 1 min
Younger people are turning teetotal, creating another hurdle for pubs
The number of 16 to 24 year olds who don’t drink has risen by 17% since the start of the pandemic. And as the years go by, there will be...
Peter Backman
- Jan 9
- 1 min
What will this year bring?
Last year I drew attention to similarities between 2022 and 1978. Now that 2022 is done and dusted what can the past tell us? Here is an...
Peter Backman
- Dec 13, 2022
- 1 min
Young workers' expectations have shifted and it's affecting the hospitality industry
There is a well reported shortfall in the numbers of people working in hospitality. What have the 17-21 year olds, specifically, got to...
Peter Backman
- Dec 5, 2022
- 1 min
Christmas is arriving, but not as fast as usual...
Christmas is arriving – but not, it seems to me, as fast as it usually does. Decorations are out, sort of, in high streets, but in my...
Peter Backman
- Nov 29, 2022
- 1 min
Which hospitality businesses will survive 2023?
There’s no doubt that 2023 will see many more hospitality operators close their doors. But which ones will survive? The big chain with...
Peter Backman
- Nov 22, 2022
- 1 min
The trickle down view of eating out...
In hard economic times people forsake their ‘usual’ places to eat at, and instead they go to places that offer meals at lower prices. The...
Peter Backman
- Nov 14, 2022
- 1 min
Are closures levelling the pre-Covid overcapacity?
News of hospitality and pub closures is painting a bleak picture and fuelling the impending sense of gloom that the industry is feeling....
Peter Backman
- Nov 6, 2022
- 1 min
Is declining confidence crushing eating out?
If you’re like the majority of the British public, then you’re less confident than you have ever been over the last ten or more years....
Peter Backman
- Oct 12, 2022
- 1 min
Is the foodservice sector suffering from long Covid
The sector has been through a period of thirty months during which operators have been assailed by far too many challenges. With a mix of...
Peter Backman
- Oct 6, 2022
- 1 min
A momentous week...
The impact of the budget on the foodservice sector is pretty clear. On the one hand, it will have some really hard impacts on consumers....
Peter Backman
- Sep 28, 2022
- 1 min
WFH continues to impact lunchtime trade
Despite consumer demand for formal and occasion wear rising, it seems that footfall for eating out is not correlating. In fact,...
Peter Backman
- Sep 12, 2022
- 1 min
The constant Queen
Amongst the many words that people have spoken about the Queen, I have been struck by a thread of comments about her constancy, the...
bottom of page