Loungers reports record year for revenue, profit and site openings

Loungers has reported group revenue of £353.5m, a 24.7% hike in year-on-year growth.

The all-day restaurant and bar operator recorded a 56% increase in pre-tax profit to £11.4m for the 53 weeks ended 21 April 2024, while adjusted EBITDA stood at £59.6m, up from. £47.3m.

The business was founded in 2002 and currently has 264 sites across the country. This past year it opened a record 36 sites, comprising of 33 of its neighbourhood café-bar brand Lounges, one Cosy Club restaurant and two of its new roadside dining concepts Brightside. It also closed one Cosy Club in Harrogate.

The 36 news sites created 1,200 jobs, which brings the company’s total workforce up to 9,000 people which served seven million breakfasts and six million pints over the last year.

The business believes its growth and performance suggests its target of 665 sites across the UK is “conservative”.

Nick Collins, CEO of Loungers said: “This has been another year of outstanding strategic, operational and financial progress for Loungers. Our consistent and market-leading like for like sales growth coupled with our improving margins are allowing us to achieve record levels of profits to reinvest in our ambitious roll-out programme.

“We have demonstrated yet again that the hospitality sector is capable of making a really positive economic and social impact on parts of the country that are otherwise all-too-often overlooked,” he added. “To encourage further investment, I would strongly urge the new government to address the wildly unfair tax burden that is shouldered by our industry in the form of a business rates system that urgently needs to be overhauled.

“The improving macroeconomic environment, with falling interest rates and declining inflation, adds to our confidence in Loungers’ trading prospects for the coming year. In the longer term, we continue to believe that 665 sites is a conservative target.”

Chairman Alex Reilley added: “Whilst Lounge continues to be the dominant driving force behind our growth, it is important to me that the other two brands don’t live in its shadow.

“We are often asked, perhaps understandably, why we don’t simply put all of our focus into Lounge, particularly as there remain hundreds of new site opportunities for us in the UK. My answer is always quite simple: I believe we are an infinitely better business for having more than one brand. It means that we have to look at a much wider spectrum of hospitality, and that we cannot – and therefore do not – fall into the trap of becoming too set in our ways.

“The brands are constantly learning from each other, and it also means that our executive team is larger than it would otherwise be, with a greater variety of perspectives and experiences for us to draw on.”

For the 11 weeks since the end of its financial year like-for-like sales at Loungers were up 5% and it had opened a further seven Lounges.

Earlier this year, Loungers bolstered its senior leadership team with three appointments to support the continued growth of the business.

Justin Carter was promoted from Lounge brand managing director to group managing director of all three brands. While David Matthews was promoted to Lounge operations director (North) and Kate Eastwood joined the business from Fullers to fill the position of Lounge managing director.