Puttshack and Bounce chief: Pubs and restaurants urged to ‘get creative’ instead of expecting government support
The government can only do so much to help hospitality businesses amid turbulent times, with firms needing to “get creative”, the boss of the Puttshack and Bounce brands, told CityA.M.
Pub and restaurant bosses have long been calling for more government to help it charter tumultuous waters, in the form of a VAT cut and business rates reform.
Ministers could only help firms to a certain extent in such “unprecedented times,” Adam Breeden, founder and chief executive officer of Kindred Concepts, said.
“I’m never one to be thinking about state aid, I’m always one to [say] get your head down,” he added.
“I’ve never had a mentality where [I’m thinking] what can other people be doing to make my business better,” he added. “It’s up to you, frankly.”
Tough times “alway create opportunities,” and operators often “need to just get better at operating” and look at cutting costs in their businesses.
“A lot of hospitality businesses, I can just see inefficiencies everywhere,” he said.
However, Breeden said he would welcome more support from the Treasury for the sector, as it battles soaring costs and a consumer slowdown this winter.
After the hospitality sector had veered from Brexit to Covid to a succession of rail strikes amid economic uncertainty, many in the sector were “feeling punchdrunk.”
It comes as the operator has opened a new concept, F1 Arcade, with the first site near St Paul’s, aimed at fans of the sport – complete with a cocktail that “tastes like burnt rubber”.
The UK was ahead of other nations when it came to competitive socialising, Breeden said, in terms of quality and variety of concepts.
Experiential hospitality venues were “exploding” with popularity in a post-Covid world, he added.