Wagamama owner TRG dines out on cost savings as closure programme continues
Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) has seen revenues rise despite the cost of living crisis, it confirmed this morning, with plans to reduce overheads with a raft of closures continuing apace.
Like-for-like sales in its most popular chain, Wagamama grew 21 per cent in the two weeks to 16 July 2023, despite trading being temporarily impacted by the hot weather in late May and June.
Its Brunning & Price Pubs offering, which has 80 sites across the UK, also performed well, with like-for-like sales up seven per cent in the first two weeks of the third quarter also.
The numbers were confirmed in a market update this morning.
Total year to date sales in Wagamama were up five per cent and its pub chain reached nine per cent.
Earlier this year TRG announced plans to offload 35 underperforming sites by the end of the financial year, taking its portfolio from 166 restaurants down to 75-85 due to a “tough macro-environment,” which has deterred customers from eating out.
However, it will transform four of the sites into Wagamama restaurants.
It came as the group previously posted a £86.8m loss for the year and was also embroiled in a spat with one of its shareholders Oasis regarding the viability of the business.
“We have seen encouraging levels of interest across both the freehold and leasehold disposal sites across a variety of alternative potential tenants and expect to have exited or sold the majority of the 35 sites by the end of FY24,” TRG said.
The eight freehold sales are expected to generate approximately £8m to £10m of cash proceeds.