RE: Upbeat12 Apr 2018 13:57
I agree about the upwards momentum Fallingknife1.
And, yes, you are broadly right about volume of food sales being profitable overall. However, Wetherspoons' business model works for them, not least because they get loads of extra volume by firmly establishing themselves in customers' minds as an all-day venue (breakfast, coffee, lunch, dinner, beer). They have also often carefully located in town centres (or vice versa). Credit to Tim Martin for this.
Many brewery pub co's have instead chosen to build a pub/eatery next to a hotel in their company group, often away from a town centre, which may be convenient at one level, but cant get the same all day volume of sales as Wetherspoons, as you often need to drive there.
Pizza is of course very cheap to make, so this is hardly a fair comparison with two chicken breasts or gammon steaks for �10.
I may be wrong, but I feel that whilst 2-4-1 or very cheap food works for some companies, a race to the bottom doesnt help and that the overall expereince counts for somethnig.
After being driven down for a decade, wages are also rising, thus squezzing margins still further. Even Tim Martin commented on this after his last set of company results were out mid-March.