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EG Group opens first rebranded Cumberland Farms stores in the US

Linda Stewart — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 09:16:35 +0000

EG Group has opened the first three Cumberland Farm stores converted from its Tom Thumb fuel and retail brand in the US.

The UK-based fuel and foodservice giant plans to open 50 Cumberland Farms stores in 2022 and a further 50 in 2023.
EG Group first announced the conversion of 113 Tom Thumb stores to its Cumberland Farms brand in February 2022, a $50m initiative it anticipated would take up to two years.
EG Group acquired Cumberland Farms in 2019, which at the time operated 567 convenience stores across seven northeast states and Florida. The retail and fuel operator has a significant coffee offer, with the new stores offering a revamped food and beverage menu, including the brand’s in-house Farmhouse Blend coffee range.
Coffee and foodservice brands are playing an increasingly central role in EG Group’s global business. In September 2022, the forecourt operator said the strong performance of its foodservice brands in Europe had underpinned second quarter sales growth amid soaring energy costs that had impacted fuel revenues.
The company, which owns UK food-to-go and coffee chain LEON and bakery Cooplands alongside operating licensed branches of Starbucks, Cinnabon and Greggs, said that foodservice profits increased 11% to reach $177m during the period.
In April 2022, the operator announced a recruitment drive to create more than 32,000 jobs around the world to support the expansion of its foodservice brands.
Founded in 2001, EG Group operates a portfolio of more than 6,000 petrol station sites around the world, including 700 in the UK and Ireland.

Its US subsidiary, EG America, operates more than 1,700 locations across the country under the Cumberland Farms, Certified Oil, Fastrac, Kwik Shop, Loaf N’ Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Sprint, Tom Thumb, and Turkey Hill brands.
In the US, EG Group faces competition from French convenience store and fuel giant, Alimentation Couche-Tard, which operates more than 6,300 Circle K stores with a significant coffee offer across the country.

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EG Group to create 32,000 jobs through foodservice expansion

Linda Stewart — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 09:02:08 +0000

Asda owners EG Group plans to create 32,000 jobs through foodservice expansion over the next five years.

The petrol station and food business run by Asda’s Issa brothers has revealed the expansion would include 22,700 new roles in the UK alone.

A large portion of jobs would be for the company’s bakery chain Cooplands and fast food brand Leon, which were both acquired in 2021 across EG’s forecourt network.

EG has also planned more Asda food service concessions within its supermarket stores. New jobs are also set to fuel third-party brand partners, such as Starbucks, KFC and drive-thru sites.

The remainder of the new jobs would come from “organic growth” across nine other markets, including Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Australia and the United States.

As the hospitality industry is currently experiencing record vacancy levels, the company has offered an “attractive package” to new staff members.

“We are proud to be a business founded in Britain that invests in job creation worldwide, while focusing heavily on the training and development of colleagues,” the Issa brothers said.

“EG has a strong track record of providing colleagues with long-term opportunities to progress their career at all levels ‒ and we are passionate about continuing this.”

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McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Starbucks suspend operations in Russia

Linda Stewart — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 10:33:37 +0000

McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have halted sales of their best-known products in Russia. All four companies have major operations in Russia.

McDonald’s said it would go on paying salaries to its 62,000 employees in Russia as it closed 847 restaurants.

Its first location to open in Russia, in central Moscow’s Pushkin Square in 1990, became a symbol of flourishing American capitalism as the Soviet Union fell.

Coca-Cola Co said it will suspend its business there. Coca-Cola was the official drink of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, despite the United States boycotting the event in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Starbucks Corp is temporarily closing hundreds of stores. The company said that its partner, Alshaya Group, which operates at least 100 cafes in Russia, will “provide support to nearly 2,000 partners in Russia who depend on Starbucks for their livelihood”.

Pepsi Co Inc will suspend all advertising in Russia and stop the sale of its drinks brands, while continuing to sell essentials such as milk and baby food.

Scores of other companies also have rebuked Russia, and Amazon.com Inc said it would stop accepting new customers for its cloud services in Russia and Ukraine.

Universal Music suspended all operations in Russia and online dating service Bumble Inc will remove its apps from stores in Russia and Belarus.

Earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc stopped buying oil from Russia and said it would cut links to the country entirely while the United States stepped up its campaign to punish Moscow by banning Russian oil and energy imports.

“It’s impossible to predict when we might be able to reopen our restaurants in Russia,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said in a note emailed company wide and posted on the company’s website.

“We are experiencing disruptions to our supply chain along with other operational impacts. We will also closely monitor the humanitarian situation.”

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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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