Whitbread

Infobox Company
company_name = Whitbread Plc
company_
company_type = Public (lse|WTB)
foundation = 1742
location = Dunstable, England, UK
key_people = Samuel Whitbread (Founder)
area_served = United Kingdom, India, Dubai, Republic of Ireland
industry = Leisure Services and Hospitality
products = Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre, Beefeater, Costa Coffee
revenue = £1,411 million (2007)
operating_income = £217 million (2007)
net_income = £229 million (2007)
num_employees = 31,703 (2007)
parent =
subsid = March Industries 90% Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants (WHR)10%
homepage = [http://www.whitbread.co.uk/ www.whitbread.co.uk]
footnotes =

:"This article is about the Whitbread company. For the sailing race see Volvo Ocean Race. For the book awards, see Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Awards)."

Whitbread Group plc (lse|WTB) is a UK-based hospitality company, managing several popular brands in hotels, restaurants and coffee houses, including Premier Inn, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns, Beefeater and Costa Coffee. The company’s headquarters are based in Dunstable, Bedfordshire and it is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company was founded as a brewery by Samuel Whitbread and Thomas Shewell in 1742 but has since halted all interests in brewing.

History

Whitbread was set up by Samuel Whitbread who established a partnership with Thomas Shewell in 1742, taking on the name Whitbread & Co Ltd in 1799. [http://www.whitbread.co.uk/about_us.cfm?id=whitbread_key_dates Whitbread History] ] In 1750 Samuel Whitbread moved his brewing operations to premises in Chiswell Street on the eastern rim of Georgian London, establishing the first purpose-built mass-production brewery in Britain.

Over the next 200 years Whitbread & Co introduced many brands to the UK market, such as Stella Artois and Heineken, alongside its own brands, which grew in popularity in the second half of the 20th century, before declining in the 1990s as people migrated to more international brands such as Fosters and Budweiser.

After a long history of brewing, the company, now known as Whitbread Group Plc decided in 2001 to sell all its breweries and brewing interests (Whitbread Brewing Company) to Interbrew, now known as InBev. Whitbread-branded alcoholic beverages are still available in the UK, such as canned Whitbread bitter, but these are not produced by InBev, merely produced under licence by other producers. InBev controls the use of the Whitbread brand, and the hind's head logo, for use on beverages. In 2002 Whitbread sold its pub estate, known as the Laurel Pub Company, to Enterprise Inns. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020413/ai_n12607979 Enterprise Inns buys 1,860 pubs to become UK's top landlord] ]

The Whitbread & Co brewery building at 52 Chiswell Street, London still survives, but beer was last brewed there in 1976 and it is now used as a conference and events venue. The site itself was sold to an investment firm in 2005, a decision which was seen by some in the company as "selling the family silver", as Whitbread sought to distance itself from its history. [ [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article570406.ece Whitbread sells historic brewery] ]

In 2005 it moved its core operations from CityPoint in central London to Oakley House in Luton, [ [http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/whd92128.htm UK Business Park] ] and then in 2006 to larger offices at Whitbread Court in Dunstable (previously used by the now defunct Whitbread Restaurants Company) in a bid to reduce costs.

In 2006 it went on to sell 239 Beefeater sites to Mitchells & Butlers. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5202164.stm Beefeater sites bought by Mitchells & Butler] ]

Operations

Whitbread's brands include the following:

Premier Inn

Premier Inn is the UK's largest hotel chain, with over 500 hotels in the United Kingdom, plus Premier Inns in Republic of Ireland and, from April 2008, in Dubai. Premier Inn recently launched a new television advertising campaign after its re-launch from "Premier Travel Inn", featuring an advert starring Black Country comedian Lenny Henry.

Table Table

Table Table is a brand of restaurants in the United Kingdom owned by Whitbread. They are converted Brewers Fayre restaurants, usually next to a Premier Inn: the brand, launched in May 2008, has 105 sites in locations such as Lockyers Quay in Plymouth, a modern contemporary restaurant set in a prime location on the waterfront.

Beefeater

Beefeater was launched in 1970 and serves millions of guests each year. The chain underwent a huge revamp in the early 2000s and has just launched a new advertising campaign in the Central UK region. Beefeater has 131 houses across the UK; most have a Premier Inn hotel located next door.

Brewers Fayre

Brewers Fayre is a pub-restaurant brand. The pubs are designed to look and feel like traditional local pubs but with a particularly strong family presence. The division is currently in the process of a regeneration. This will see the demise of the Brewers Fayre brand in favour of TableTable.

Taybarns

Taybarns is an all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurant being created at some former Brewers Fayre sites (eg: Swansea). Further sites are planned to open during 2008. A second site is lined up for Coventry. Pub industry managers have been turning up in their droves in Swansea to check-out whether this is the next big thing. Some reckon it may be selling 8,000 meals a week, with total turnover in excess of £50,000 a week

Costa Coffee

Whitbread operates more than 600 Costa Coffee outlets across the UK. The chain also operates in the Middle East, Pakistan and India through franchise partners, and in China through a joint venture agreement. Whitbread plans for more Costa outlets to be operated outside the UK than in its home market by 2012.

Touchbase

Touchbase is Whitbread's conferencing and meeting rooms brand. These are normally found either in city centres or at motorway junctions and attached to Premier Inns.

Former Brands

Whitbread has recently offloaded some of its brands and licensed franchises in an effort to streamline the business:
* Britvic, a large UK manufacturer of soft drinks, producing brands such as J2O, Robinson's and Tango as well as Pepsi in the UK and Ireland.
* Whitbread Inns, standalone pubs with no restaurant attached.
* Marriott hotels and clubs in the UK, sold to brand owner Marriott Corporation.
* TGI Friday's, a chain of franchised American theme restaurants, sold to brand owner. (see below)
* Pizza Hut UK, sold to brand owner Yum!.
* David Lloyd Leisure health clubs sold to Versailles Bidco Limited. (see below)
* Hogshead, a group of town-centre pubs, similar to Wetherspoons, became part of the Laurel Pub Company.
* Threshers, a chain of off licences.

TGI Friday's

Whitbread originally held the UK franchise rights to the American restaurant chain TGI Friday's. The restaurants are known for their "over the top" American style and are popular with teenagers for birthday parties. It is also noted for its cocktails including a top-selling Long Island Iced Tea. The Whitbread website claims: "The highly popular Long Island Iced Tea cocktail alone accounts for more than 1.5 million of 34 million cocktails served in the UK since Whitbread first brought the brand to the UK in 1986".

The chain was ranked 15th overall in the FT's annual Best Workplace report, and ranked fourth as the most fun place to work in the UK.

On 17 January 2007 Whitbread announced that the franchise rights for TGI Friday's were being sold to a joint venture between Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc and ABN AMRO Capital for £70.4m. [ [http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2007/01/17/310943/whitbread-sells-tgi-fridays-to-joint-venture.html Whitbread sells TGI Fridays to Joint Venture] ]

David Lloyd Leisure

Whitbread run more than 50 David Lloyd Leisure (DLL) clubs in the UK and Ireland with a further number in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. DLL is Britain's biggest tennis operator and manages more than 500 tennis courts. On 4th July 2007, Whitbread announced that it had conditionally agreed to sell the David Lloyd Leisure chain to Versailles Bidco Limited for £925million. Whitbread will initially use the proceeds from its sale to pay off debt. [ [http://www.whitbread.co.uk/media.cfm?id=press_releases&view=229 "Sale of David Lloyd Leisure"] . Whitbread plc. 4 June 2007. "URL accessed June 4, 2007."]

ponsorship

In 1971, the company launched the Whitbread Literary Awards, but in 2005 Whitbread changed its sponsorship strategy to support the Costa Coffee brand, as the Whitbread name was no longer a customer-facing brand, merely a holding company for a series of other brands: hence the new name "Costa Book Awards".

References

External links

* [http://www.whitbread.co.uk Whitbread plc website]
* [http://www.thebrewery.co.uk the Brewery - London events venue]
* [http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=WTB.L Yahoo profile]
* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Whitbread-PLC-Company-History.html Funding Universe History of Whitbread PLC]