BRITAIN’S top restaurant chains have seen profits soar by almost a fifth after replacing staff with self-service tills and apps.
They hit £365million at the top 100 groups this year, up from £308million in 2024.
Accountancy group UHY Hacker Young also found that turnover was up 19 per cent to £12.9billion, from £10.8billion.
It said growth had been particularly strong for the fast food and casual dining sector, with burger and steakhouse chains enjoying some of the largest turnover increases.
UHY Hacker Young partner Martin Jones said chains had been investing in technology such as touchscreen tills in fast-food outlets.
Many had also upgraded menu offerings to increase prices, as a way of boosting earnings.
He said: “While many chains are still suffering from depressed margins and weak demand, there’s enough innovation and expansion to deliver better results.”
Hospitality has been particularly hard-hit by the increase in employers’ National Insurance.
Half of all job losses since the Budget have been in that sector, according to analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics by UKHospitality.
It means one in every 25 jobs in pubs, hotels, cafes, restaurants and bars has been axed.
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T&C’s ARE KAFKA-ESQUE
BANKS and insurance firms need to stop writing terms and conditions that are “longer than some classic novels”, campaigners urge.
Policies on travel insurance and investment products are the worst, clocking in at 26,000 words — around the same length as Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, analysis by Fairer Finance claims.
It comes despite the financial regulator in 2023 introducing rules forcing firms to prove that customers understand such documents.
Fairer Finance said the longer the documents were, the less likely customers were to know what they mean — or to engage with them at all.
Managing director James Daley added: “The grace period is now over, and we expect the regulator to start holding companies to account.”
ENERGY CRISIS
HOUSEHOLDS cannot afford more energy price hikes, the regulator has been warned.
More than 12 million people are struggling to pay already — but Ofgem is expected to announce tomorrow a rise in the energy price cap to £1,737 from October.
Commenting on the research from York University, Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “The time for tinkering with the price cap is over.”
RENT CONS UP
RENTERS have been warned to watch out for fake landlord scams after crooks made £20million from them last year.
The average victim lost £4,711, Action Fraud said. The total haul was up by 45 per cent on the previous year.
Richard Daniels, of TSB, said: “Scammers prey on a competitive rental market with too-good-to-be-true listings that trick house- hunters into making advanced payments.”
