M&B breaks records selling 225,000 meals on Christmas Day
Trading through the core three week festive period was also strong with like-for-like sales growth at 3.9%.
M&B also said the sales performance over the seven week period since its last update had been “encouraging”, although it was affected by the adverse weather in the run up to Christmas.
Future plans
The group has opened two new sites and completed 114 conversions and remodels in the financial year to date. It also expects to complete about 270 further remodels and conversions in the full year.
Chief executive Phil Urban said: “We are pleased to have delivered continued strong trading results over the important festive period in the face of difficult weather for many of our guests, indicating the attractiveness of our offers in a competitive market.”
M&B were not the only group to see record results over the festive period as cocktail bar group Be At One sold 500,000 cocktails during December.
Be At One also saw like-for-like sales rise by 12.6% during December and total sales breaking the £5m mark for the first time since the group was founded in 1998.
Trade success
Meanwhile, Upham Group announced that it recorded the highest grossing sales day in its history on New Year’s Eve last year.
The company took £112,000 on 31 December 2017 to top off a five-week trading period that saw a year-on-year rise of 6.5% in gross pub sales to £2.3m on a like-for-like basis.
The week from Christmas Day to New Year’s Eve also marked the first time that Upham’s sales exceeded £500,000 in a single week.
