This week we raise a glass to winners of the National Restaurant Awards, don’t count our chickens as shortages close restaurants, wish we were in the Doghouse and applaud the UK’s appetite for food delivery…
North of England restaurants dominate UK awards
The north of England has just been awarded more top restaurants than London for the first time in this year’s National Restaurant Awards.
The region has four of the top five venues, with Moor Hall, Aughton, Lancashire taking the top spot. Second is The Angel at Hetton, North Yorkshire with House of Tides, Newcastle and L’Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria coming in at fourth and fifth.
Nando’s and KFC hit by food shortages
A chicken crisis has hit the UK forcing high street restaurants, such as Nando’s and KFC, to temporarily close some of their sites. It’s an issue that is going to spread its ‘chicken wings’ to pubs and other restaurants as suppliers are hit by staffing issues and a shortage of HGV lorry drivers, creating a ‘poultry’ problem that isn’t going to be resolved overnight.
Brewdog opens first hotel in England
Food Alert client, Brewdog, has opened its first hotel in England with plans for its next site in Edinburgh, Scotland under way. The 18 bedroom Doghouse hotel in Manchester is ‘carbon negative’ and features a living wall of 26,000 plants, free Brompton bike hire and ‘the reward of free beer for reusing your room towels’. It also boasts a rooftop garden and shower beer fridges!
Just Eat orders rise by 58 million in first half of 2021
The UK’s growing appetite for food delivery has bolstered Just Eat’s business with customers ordering an average 3.2 times a month, up from 2.5 times in the same period 12 months ago. A total of 135 million orders were received in the first six months of this year, an increase of 76% compared to the same period in 2020.