belfast food scene – Licensed & Catering News (LCN) – News Coverage from the Local Trade

Hastings Hotel Group sees profits soar by 62%

Joe Kearney — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:11:49 +0000

Hastings Hotel Group has reported a 62% increase in pre-tax profit last year, new accounts show.

The family-owned company behind Belfast’s Europa and Grand Central hotels posted a £6.9 million profit-before-tax for the year ending October 31 2023.

The accounts for the Hastings Hotels Group include the trading business for its six northern hotels along with its hotel management company, which between them, employed 836 people towards the end of last year.

The group recorded a 17.5% increase in turnover to £50.7m last year, according to documents filed with Companies House.

Alongside its two flagship Belfast city centre hotels, the accounts include the activities of the Culloden Estate and Spa, Ballygally Castle, Stormont Hotel and Everglades Hotel in Derry.

The Hastings Hotel Group underwent an internal restructuring of its business following the 2021 sale of the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle to US investors AJ Capital for around £40m.

That restructuring saw the establishment of William Hastings Group Ltd, which incorporates the family’s property investment interests.

It also factors in the Hastings family’s 50% stake in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin.

The accounts for William Hastings Group Ltd show that side of the business recorded a pre-tax profit of £3.3m in the year to October 31 2023.

The same accounts indicate the ‘demerger of the Hastings Hotel Group’ involved a cost of around £2.5m.

It had £10.5m cash and equivalents at the end of the reporting period.

Based on the accounts filed with Companies House, the Europa remains the most successful business in the Hastings Hotels Group.

Its revenues grew by 27% last year to just under £16m, with the Great Victoria Street hotel posting a pre-tax profit of £2.3m.

With a staff of 272 people, it also remained the largest operation within the group.

The nearby Grand Central Hotel, which had a staff of 191 on its books, posted an operating profit of £1.5m in the year to October 2023.

But interest payments of around £1.9m related to the Bedford Street hotel resulted in a pre-tax loss of £405,000 for the 2022/23 financial year.

The Culloden Estate and Spa remains another continuing success story for the hotel group.

Its £10.2m turnover last year produced a pre-tax profit of £1.3m.

The Stormont Hotel (£5.1m turnover), Ballygally Castle (£3.4m turnover) and the Everglades Hotel (£2.8m turnover) all remained profitable in the last financial year.

The group’s hotel business did face a £2.4m tax bill last year, which left it with a total income of £4.8m in the year to October 2023.

That was more than double the figure posted in 2022.

According to Companies House, Howard Hastings (61) holds the controlling stake in the family business.

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Vietnamese coffee tradition brought to Ormeau Road

Joe Kearney — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:37:48 +0000

A Vietnamese restaurateur is bringing the Southeast Asian country’s coffee tradition to a new store in south Belfast.

William Chan has opened the first branch of Phin on Ormeau Road after selling Madame Pho, the Vietnamese restaurant he founded in 2020.

Phin, named after a tool used in coffee brewing in Vietnam, has opened at a unit previously occupied by coffee shop chain District.

Mr Chan said he had a “passion” for hospitality after growing up in the trade, with his family owning Furama, a Chinese restaurant in Antrim for over 30 years.

He added: “I previously had a Vietnamese restaurant in Belfast, Madame Pho, as well, and it was always our plan to open a standalone coffee business.

“Coffee culture is actually really big in Vietnam so we wanted to bring quite an authentic experience to Belfast and really just educate people on Vietnamese coffee.

“It’s actually the second-largest grower of coffee in the world and I don’t think a lot of people are educated on that.

“It uses a Robusta bean which in a lot of places is used as a filler bean to mix in with premium Arabica, but we’re trying to use it as a premium blend, which is what they do in Vietnam.”

On the possibility of more venues, he said: “We’re just trying to get this set up first but we do have plans to open a few more. We would love to be able to bring this to different areas of Belfast. That’s definitely in our plans.

“We’ll be doing the Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, sort of like Vietnamese baguettes, just to really complement the authenticity of what we’re trying to do.”

Phin isn’t the first Vietnamese coffee shop here. Brothers Gary and Martin Small opened the first Vietnamese coffee shop on the island of Ireland in Belfast’s Great Victoria Street in 2017, though the unit closed down during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gary said it had since become a major supplier in the UK, supplying many Vietnamese coffee shops and restaurants.

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Owners’ regret at having to close award-winning Blank

Joe Kearney — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:25:48 +0000

The award-winning Blank restaurant ,which opened in Belfast over two years ago, is to close and a new dining offer will open in the same location.

Owners Christina and Jonny Taylor cited the financial strains of operating the restaurant, including escalating wages and the rising costs of local produce in making Blank financially unviable and the venue will close its doors in June this year.

Christina and Jonny also operate Shed Bistro on the Ormeau Road in the city and Christina spoke of her regret having to take the difficult decision on Blank.

“We took a gamble in October 2021 with the opening of Blank which was a new dining concept for a restaurant in Northern Ireland and for more than two years it has worked. However the ever increasing cost of doing business and the amount of staff we need on site simply renders Blank unviable. The cumulative pressure has become too much and we feel we need to redesign the restaurant offer at that site.

“The margins in operating such a fine dining restaurant are very finely balanced. While we have always been very busy at weekends, it has been more difficult to attract customers midweek and far too often we get last minute cancellations, often of more than one table.

“When that happens it makes that days trading unviable. I really hope customers take this on board, and give a restaurant booking the same status and respect that goes with a theatre or a concert booking.

“Blank will remain open until June 8th and I urge anyone who wants to have the Blank experience to do so. All Blank vouchers should be used in that period too.”

“All of the staff from Blank will be transitioning to our new restaurant which we are determined to make a success. Unlike Blank, this new venue will offer a more casual and accessible dining experience with an order-from-the-menu concept. The Blank experience is hard to accept but we will be part of the restaurant scene in Belfast and in Northern Ireland for the long term.”

Tables for Blank’s new restaurant, which is yet to be named, will be available to book from Friday 3rd May.

The new restaurant will continue using local produce, offering a more relaxed dining experience that celebrates the best of Ireland’s culinary bounty.

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Kainos HQ green light to see Trademarket quit site

Joe Kearney — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 08:36:49 +0000

The future of Trademarket street food outlet has been thrown into uncertainty after IT firm Kainos secured planning permission for its new headquarters on the Dublin Road site.

Belfast City Council has given the green light for Kainos’ Bankmore Exchange HQ and for Queen’s University to develop managed student accommodation next to the Kainos building.

The company’s temporary leasing agreement with Trademarket, which currently occupies the site, will end as planned on July 31 this year with the statement confirming the food venue is moving on “to new ventures”.

The construction of the new Kainos headquarters is set to begin in September and the project is scheduled for completion within 24 months, with Kainos aiming to take occupancy in early 2027.

The tech firm said the news signifies a major investment in the regeneration of the city’s Linen Quarter.

“The project will provide a state-of-the-art workspace for its people and contribute significantly to the economic and social fabric of Belfast,” stated the IT services company.

Russell Sloan, CEO at Kainos, added: “We are delighted to have received planning approval, and it is exciting to know we will be moving into our new headquarters at Bankmore Exchange in just a few years. This development not only marks a significant milestone in our journey but also reaffirms our commitment to Belfast, the city where Kainos was founded. As we look to the future, we are eager to continue making a positive impact, driving growth, and creating new opportunities in the region. I would also like to take a moment to thank Trademarket for their partnership. As they move on to new ventures, we wish them every success.

“Kainos is dedicated to fostering community development and enhancing the technological landscape in Belfast. The company is eager to see the positive changes its new headquarters will bring to the local community and industry.”

Queen’s University is planning to welcome students to their new facilities for the beginning of the September 2026 academic year.

Kainos now employs some 3,000 staff across its sites.

Last year, the FTSE 250 company announced it would invest £10m in the advancement and scaling of generative AI.

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Broker restaurant chef to take on venue after closure

Joe Kearney — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 13:20:15 +0000

A popular restaurant in east Belfast has announced its closure due to “impossibly high expenses” and staffing concerns..

Despite Broker opening in October 2022, owner Peter McCloskey, who also owns Belfast’s Oliver’s chain, is now closing the restaurant saying it “has never been harder”.

“It’s too hard to get quality staff here in Northern Ireland,” he said. “If we had the staff here that they have in other countries the industry would be totally different.

“Here, it is seen as a luxury to go to a restaurant but working in one is seen as just a casual job.”

Mr McCloskey feels the government can and should provide restaurants with greater support.

He said rate relief and reducing VAT to 13.5% from 20% (the rate for the hospitality and tourism sector in the Republic of Ireland) would help business owners.

“Restaurants in GB are paying discounted rates and down south the VAT is much more manageable, places here have such impossibly high expenses and then people can’t afford to eat out,” he said.

“The rates are just far too high here, you have to bring in an awful lot of money to make any money.

“We are heading to a place where the only restaurants that can afford the rates in Belfast are chain restaurants, and that’s not what we want, we want to see talented and creative chefs in the city, not just a lot of chain restaurants.”

Chef Chris Hayden plans to take over the unit where Broker resided.

“He is a very talented chef and he has a lot of ideas he wants to showcase, he is the head chef at a hotel at the minute but having your own restaurant means you can put your stamp on things and do it the way you want to,” Mr McCloskey said.

He added that Mr Hayden can offer customers in east Belfast a great menu and has a supportive staff around him.

“He is a good chef and he has good chefs who want to work under him, you need a good staff to offer customers food they are willing to pay for and he will have that,” Mr McCloskey said.

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