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In the current retail climate where food & beverage retailers seem to be suffering, café, bar, and restaurant group Loungers is bucking the trend, having embarked on an ambitious and rapid growth strategy.
Founded in Bristol in 2002, by a trio of longstanding friends, Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and Dave Reid, Loungers has undergone rapid expansion since its early days.
Their idea was to provide customers with a ‘third space’ between work and home to meet, chat, eat and drink – a more attractive and appealing alternative to the surrounding local pubs and coffee bars. And it seems to be proving to the case.
Loungers’ first sites were launched in city suburbs and towns with high residential densities, with the aim of providing places closer to home that people can enjoy.
In its most recent results published with Companies House for the 12 months to 23 April 2017, the business saw revenues climb from £68.5m to £91.8m in the year to 23 April 2017, representing a 34% rise in net sales. Loungers opened a further 20 sites in this financial year alone, giving it the confidence to continue expanding throughout the country.
Loungers was named as the fastest growing UK pub group in terms of turnover in 2017 according to data from The Morning Advertiser’s sister title MCA.
Four new locations opened last month alone. Orsino Lounge in Newton Abbot, Devon launched on 1 August following a £665,000 refurbishment, followed by an opening in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. The third, Chesterfield, began operations on 8 August, with the fourth site opening in Didcot, Oxfordshire, on 22 August.
Lounger’s 100th site, the Sorrento lounge in Moseley, Birmingham, opened in March this year, and the group is on track to reach 140 sites by the end of 2018.
Loungers also operates the Cosy Club bar and restaurant brand, which currently has 22 sites and has plans to open up to five each year.
Having outperformed much of the hospitality sector over recent years, it is clear that Loungers’ core philosophy encompassing more than just the delivery of food and drinks through the offer of all-day value for money in a ‘home-from-home’ environment and atmosphere is working.
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