Hospitality's moment in parliament and a warning from America

The King's Speech reached further into hospitality than most people thought but the levers that actually decide whether the sector makes money are conspicuously absent. From the Overnight Visitor Levy's predicted 33,000 job losses to a rare piece of genuinely useful supply-side help on food costs, this week's analysis cuts through the legislative noise to tell you what it really means for operators.

I have just returned from the US where I spent a week observing the restaurant sector. It revealed a striking picture: aggregate growth is holding, but the gap between winners and losers has rarely been wider. Same-store sales swinging from +8% to -9% in the same quarter, weight-loss drugs showing up as a measurable drag on demand and a clear operational pattern emerging among the brands recovering fastest. The same consumer dynamics may already be heading to the UK.

For the full analysis, read this week’s issue