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Burritos Aboard! SSP Confirm new sites and development pipelines with Tortilla Mexican Grill

Julie Nash — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 20:56:25 +0000

Continuing its successful relationship, Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC, the UK’s largest fast-casual Mexican restaurant brand, has confirmed it will open 4 new locations with global food travel experts SSP, in 2024, with an exciting pipeline of opportunities in 2025.

Currently the SSP and Tortilla franchise includes five sites across the UK, with Manchester Piccadilly train station being the most recent to open in H1 2023.

Franchise partnerships are a key part of Tortilla’s growth strategy, as transport hubs, universities and other such locations become such an increasingly important channel to access consumers. Tortilla’s proposition and operating model are perfectly suited to franchising with the simple kitchen setup being easy to replicate, while Tortilla’s central production food model provides consistency of food quality and enables franchisees to quickly train employees.

Richard Morris, CEO at Tortilla, said:

“At Tortilla, our fundamental purpose is to provide outstanding food, at excellent value for money and great service. Our relationship with SSP has been hugely successful since we launched with them in 2019 at Euston station in London. Whilst Covid inevitably impacted the rate at which we opened sites, we have since launched record breaking sites in London Gatwick and Bristol Airport, as well as Leeds MSA and Manchester Piccadilly station.

We are excited to continue our partnership with more UK travel locations, and potential European equivalents over the coming years given SSP’s strong foothold across 37 countries globally.”

Cathy Granby, Business Development Director, SSP, said:

“SSP are delighted to continue our relationship with Tortilla, as we see the brand becoming more and more popular across all our locations within our travel hubs.

The offer is good value, travels well and is great quality. All the key ingredients for a successful travel food offer.

We look forward to opening more locations with Tortilla over the coming years.”

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Wagamama and Upper Crust restaurant firms warn of worsening inflation

Linda Stewart — Wed, 25 May 2022 09:08:17 +0000

The owners of restaurant chains Wagamama and Upper Crust have warned inflation would worsen this year as the war in Ukraine exacerbates a rise in food, commodity and energy prices.

The warnings come as households face a major cost-of-living squeeze from the highest inflation in decades and restaurant operators attempt to recover from the havoc wreaked by the pandemic.

The UK-based Restaurant Group, operator of Asian food chain Wagamama and Italian-American-themed Frankie & Benny’s restaurants, projected food and drink inflation to reach 9% to 10% this year, compared with a 5% estimate given in March.

SSP Group, which runs the Upper Crust brand of sandwich shops along commuter routes, said it expected inflation to “step up” through the second half and into next year.

“Where there is low labour availability, this is also resulting in higher labour costs,” SSP said in a statement. Patrick Coveney, the former CEO at food firm Greencore, has taken up the top job at SSP this year.

The Ukraine crisis and global supply chain disruptions that began during the pandemic have spurred price increases worldwide, making everything from fuel to food more expensive.

Both SSP and Restaurant Group are taking steps to protect their business from inflation. SSP said it was promoting more profitable menu items, while Restaurant Group said it was working with its supply chain partners to mitigate the impact.

Still, Restaurant Group posted stronger like-for-like sales across its Wagamama and pub locations for the year-to-date period as more diners visited restaurants than a year earlier.

SSP, which is listed on the Ftse-250 index, reported a much smaller half-yearly loss and said it expected sales to near pre-pandemic levels, as people travel more and return to offices. The group said the loss before tax came in at £2.3m (€2.7m) for the six months to the end of March.

Meanwhile, UK grocery price inflation reached 7%, its highest level since May 2009, according to market researcher Kantar. Its latest survey also found over a fifth of UK households said they were “struggling” to pay their household bills and most UK households are worried about the cost of grocery shopping.

“People are really feeling the squeeze at the supermarket tills and they’re having to stretch their budgets further to accommodate rising prices,” said Fraser McKevitt, who is head of retail at Kantar.

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SSP sales at 57% of pre-Covid levels in recent weeks

Linda Stewart — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 09:31:24 +0000

SSP says its sales are recovering after the lifting of curbs in the UK and some European markets.

Upper Crust owner SSP says that its sales are recovering after a slowdown in recent weeks, when fewer people travelled due to Omicron-led curbs that hit its stores at train stations and airports.

The company predominantly operates units across airports and railway stations in its UK and Ireland markets, with own brands including Millie’s Cookies and Upper Crust. It also includes names such as M&S Simply Food, Starbucks and Burger King in its portfolio, which it operates under franchise arrangements.

The London-listed firm said it made an underlying core profit in the first quarter to December, and this month repaid in full the £300m Covid-19 UK government financing.

The group said its sales in the latest eight weeks to January 30 were at around 57% of 2019 levels, down from the nine weeks before that when sales ran at 66% of the 2019 levels.

SSP had lagged a broader food industry recovery from pandemic lows as most of its stores have been more susceptible to Covid-related disruptions to travel due to their location at transit points.

It still expects its like-for-like revenue and profit margins to broadly return to 2019 levels by 2024.

In November, Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney said he would step down from the position in March to become group CEO of SSP.

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Greencore CEO Patrick Coveney quits after 14 years

Linda Stewart — Fri, 26 Nov 2021 15:22:21 +0000

Patrick Coveney, the long-time chief executive of Irish food group Greencore, is leaving the role.

The Greencore CEO is leaving to join UK stock market-listed SSP Group as chief executive.

SSP Group is the owner of the Upper Crust chain of sandwich shops that trade at airports and train stations. Mr Coveney succeeds Simon Smith.

Jonathan Davies, in his role as deputy CEO and CFO, will lead the Group Executive Committee and oversee day to day business prior to Coveney joining. Mr Coveney will resign from Greencore next March.

SSP Group chairman Mike Clasper described Mr Coveney as a “strong and strategic leader”.

Meanwhile, a search for a new CEO at Greencore has begun with non-executive chair Gary Kennedy taking a ‘more active role’ in the business and assuming the role of executive chair from when Coveney leaves. Chief commercial officer Kevin Moore will also step into the role of deputy chief executive with immediate effect.

During his time at Greencore, which produces a range of convenience foods in the UK and Ireland, Coveney helped transform the business into an ‘international leader in value added convenience food, most notably in food-to-go’. He is also credited with delivering a ‘strong track record of growth’, forging long-term partnerships with customers across the UK, US and Europe and driving ‘significant cultural change’, developing people and embedding sustainability into Greencore’s strategy.

Prior to working at Greencore in 2005, Coveney worked for nine years at McKinsey & Company in Europe and North America, laterally as managing partner for Ireland. He also serves as a non-executive director of Glanbia plc and Core Media.

“Patrick is a strong and strategic leader, combining this with proven financial and operational experience in some of the most competitive categories in the food sector,” said Mike Clasper, chair of the board, SSP.

“His customer and colleague focus make him ideally placed to lead SSP to future success. Patrick will be well supported by Jonathan Davies, who together with the executive committee and board will ensure we complete a smooth transition.”

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