Frankie & Benny’s owner wants a larger slice of the market

FRANKIE & Benny’s owner Restaurant Group is ready to speed up its expansion strategy, which will bring its total number of new sites this year to nearly 50.

The company intends to roll out more of its smaller brands, which include Chiquito, a Mexican restaurant, and Coast to Coast, an American diner.

Frankie & Benny’s is by far the group’s biggest brand, with 251 outlets.

Four were opened in the first half of this year and the dining chain aims to open as many as 11 more by the end of the year.

The announcement came as Restaurant Group reported a 9.6pc rise in pretax profits in the first six months of the year, from £33.7m in the same period last year to £36.9m, driven by a 2.5pc increase in like-for-like sales as well as income from newly established restau- rants. Across all its brands, the company has added 21 restaurants to its portfolio so far this year and aims to open up to 27 more by the end of the financial year in December.

Danny Breithaupt, its chief executive, said that trading conditions had been tough, but that its robust performance demonstrated Restaurant Group’s resilience.

“The Restaurant Group has deliv- ered another strong set of results, with good growth across all key performance measures and excellent progress on our strategy of increasing the pace of roll-out in a more balanced way between our brands,” he said.

“The strengthening UK economy, increasing wages and disposable incomes, combined with the secular trends driving ongoing expansion of the eating out market, give me great confidence that the group is well set for continued strong growth this year and beyond.”

Mr Breithaupt has previously said government plans to increase the national minimum wage would not hurt the Restaurant Group, and he criticised other companies who have voiced objections to paying staff more.

Like-for-like sales are 2pc ahead in the 34 weeks to August 23.