Winning in Hospitality: Success Stories and the Inflation Challenge Ahead

I recently posted about how we don’t hear enough about the success stories in hospitality, despite there being plenty of them out there.

The post in question looked at the success of The Guinea Grill , which had just set a record for Young's Pubs with its weekly turnover exceeding £300k. For the final UK Hospitality Data Insights newsletter of 2024, I’ll take a closer look at the performance of this iconic London pub, using Hospitality Data Insights (HDI) Site Intel Pro data up to 17 December 2024.

In addition, I’ll take a quick look at the latest state of play in terms of price inflation. Getting pricing right is going to be a key priority for operators in 2025, especially with £3.4 billion in costs due to hit the hospitality sector in April as a direct result of the budget announcements made at the end of October.

If you have any questions on any of the insights shared here or would like to find out how we may be able to support your business with insight going into 2025, please don’t hesitate to contact me either through LinkedIn or by emailing me directly: mark.bentley@hdinsights.com

The Guinea Grill – A Hospitality Success Story

Hospitality Data Insights (HDI) Site Intel Pro data provides unique insight into almost every pub, restaurant, coffee shop and fast-food outlet in the UK, with the ability to tailor analysis to focus upon specific types of sites, competitor radii and date ranges. The data is based on tracking the day-by-day, site-by-site spending of 10.2 million people, providing the unique ability to understand what’s going on within the four walls of individual businesses by tracking actual customer spending behaviour.

In this example, The Guinea Grill has been benchmarked versus Pubs, Bars & Restaurants within a 0.25 mile radius, with the analysis period covering the period since it re-opened at the beginning of March 2024 following a full refurbishment and a large expansion of its dining area. Headline stats are shown below:

The headline stats for The Guinea Grill clearly demonstrate the premium nature of this pub. Just over £1 in every £3 of sales are from the “Business Elite” group (Most Affluent CAMEO segment), and the “Top Competitors” list in terms of where its customers are also spending locally features exclusive private members’ clubs such as Annabel’s and The Arts Club.

Here are some additional insights which can be found when delving into the Trading Profile and Customer Profile reports for The Guinea Grill:

🔹 Market Share Growth: The Guinea Grill now holds an 8.6% value market share of the Top 20 venues within its customers’ local repertoire—up +1.9% points since the refurbishment.

🔹 Significant ATV Increase: With an Average Transaction Value of £46.96, up £10.51 (+28.8%), the expansion of its dining area is clearly driving higher spend per visit.

🔹 Higher Customer Loyalty: Customer “share of wallet” has jumped +8.9% points, with The Guinea Grill now capturing nearly 50% of spend from its customers across the Top 20 local venues in their repertoire.

I always find it fascinating to see how far customers travel to individual venues. Comparing this versus the local competition really shows who the crème de la crème venues are, and The Guinea Grill once again stands out here. The chart below shows that it over-indexes with customers travelling from 10+ miles away, with just over 44% of spend coming from customers living 20+ miles away…..which makes it even more impressive to then see an over-index with customers who visit multiple times per year:

Hopefully the above example has been an interesting read and demonstrates the types of insight which are available on individual businesses from Hospitality Data Insights (HDI) . As well as focussing on the detail of individual sites and/or local markets, we can also provide a broader view of retail brand and operator performance with our Chain Intel Pro and Market Tracking products – if you’d like a demo, please get in touch.

Latest Price Inflation Tracker – UK Hospitality vs. ONS Inflation

Hospitality inflation continues to outpace the wider economy, with Managed Pubs & Bars prices now up 3.7% year-on-year and QSR & Coffee at 3.2%. With further inflationary pressures looming in April 2025, getting pricing right has never been more important.

We help operators stay ahead with regular price tracking to monitor the latest market movements and offer tailored support with pricing strategy work. Whether it’s optimising pricing site-by-site or understanding broader market dynamics, we’re here to help you make smarter decisions. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to find out more.

I'm Mark, Business Development Director of Hospitality Data Insights (HDI), thanks for reading.

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