Albert’s Schloss operator’s 26% lfl Xmas boost

09-Jan-2023 - Last updated on 09-Jan-2023 at 10:45 GMT

Christmas bonus: Albert's Schloss has added great revenue to the group during the festive period

Related tags Finance Multi-site pub operators Property

Albert’s Schloss operator Mission Mars has reported a jolly Christmas with a 26% like-for-like (lfl) sales boost during December versus last year.

The results focused on the Christmas period of 28 December 2002 to 1 January 2023 and compared favourably against the five-week period a year before. The group said the growth was driven by record sales in both brands of the business.

Mission Mars also revealed its total revenue was £16m for the 13-week period from 3 October 2022 to 1 January 2023 – an increase of 69% against the same period in 2021-22.

Revenue in the financial quarter was helped by the new Albert’s Schloss site opening in Liverpool in November 2022.

£4.3m growth from Schloss sites

The Liverpool Albert’s Schloss venue plus its other two in Birmingham and Manchester, added revenue grow of £4.3m for the five-week period, an increase of 104% on the prior year. Albert’s Schloss Manchester delivered lfl growth of 29%.

Meanwhile, Mission Mars’s nine-strong Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana brand saw revenue growth of 86% in the period.

Missions Mars chief executive Roy Ellis said: “I am delighted with the quarter’s trade, in particular the festive period performance.

“Despite numerous external challenges, our team members have helped the group deliver an industry-leading group guest experience score of 73.7% for the quarter, an increase of 1.2% versus the same period in the prior year.

“The group is spending a significant amount of time monitoring and analysing the externals pressure the sector is facing.”

Focus on staff

Ellis continued: “We have been delighted to reduce our colleague turnover levels to the lowest levels we have seen and are determined to drive down further through continued investment in our training, development and team engagement.

“In 2022 we were proud to increase our pay structure to start at ‘real living wage’ rates as a minimum and will continue this through 2023.

“Strong trading across all venues for a sustained period of time provides us with confidence that the Albert’s Schloss brand and Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana brand are well set to continue to deliver growth and are likely to trade extremely well in all parts of the UK.

“We continue to search for the best locations to continue our growth with four new Rudy’s and one new Albert’s Schloss currently in legals, anticipated to open in 2023.”