| Type | Public limited company |
|---|---|
| Traded as | LSE: WTB |
| Industry | Leisure Hospitality |
| Founded | 1742 |
| Headquarters | Dunstable, United Kingdom |
| Area served | China, Dubai, Europe, India, Republic of Ireland, Russia, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Anthony Habgood (Chairman) Andrew Harrison (CEO) |
| Products | Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Costa Coffee, Premier Inn, Table Table, Taybarns |
| Revenue | £1,435.0 million (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | £253.2 million (2010)[1] |
| Net income | £160.0 million (2010)[1] |
| Employees | 33,000 (2010)[2] |
| Website | www.whitbread.co.uk |
Whitbread PLC (LSE: WTB) is a global hotel, coffee shop and restaurant company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom. Its largest division is Premier Inn, which is the largest hotel brand in the UK with around 580 hotels and over 40,000 rooms.[1][2] Its Costa Coffee chain has around 1,600 stores across 25 countries and is the world's second-largest international coffee shop chain.[1][2] Its other brands include the restaurants Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns.[2]
Whitbread is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
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Whitbread was founded by Samuel Whitbread and Thomas Shewell, who established a partnership in 1742. The company adopted the name Whitbread & Co Ltd in 1799.[3] 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.[3]
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. The company was first listed in the London Stock Exchange in 1948.[4]
From the years of 1961-1971, Whitbread, in a form of self-defense from the bigger brewers, bought out 23 brewing companies. They had bought others to prevent E. P. Taylor from invading their home market. Output increased from 2.1 to 7.4 million hectoliters (55.4 - 195 million US gallons) and became Britain's third largest brewer.[5]
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 Beer Company) to Interbrew, now known as InBev.[3] 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.[6]
The Whitbread & Co brewery building at 52 Chiswell Street in London still survives, although beer ceased to be brewed there in 1976[3] and it is now a conference and events venue. Still named "The Brewery", it is now part of the Earls Court and Olympia Group, as 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.[7]
In 2005, it moved its core operations from CityPoint in central London, to Oakley House in Luton,[8] 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 of its 271 Beefeater sites to Mitchells & Butlers.[9] In January 2010, Whitbread introduced a new corporate logo, and replaced the tagline "welcome with a smile" with "Eat, Sleep and Drink".[10]
Whitbread's brands include the following:
Premier Inn is the UK's largest hotel chain, with over 600 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 Lenny Henry.
Table Table is a UK restaurant brand. They started as converted Brewers Fayre restaurants, usually next to a Premier Inn. The brand, launched in May 2008, has 105 sites in the UK. More recent sites such as Oswestry, Kendal and Cambridge have been purpose built.
Beefeater was launched in 1974 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 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 is an all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurant being created at some former Brewers Fayre sites (e.g.: Swansea). Other sites have opened in Coventry, South Shields, Wigan, Newcastle-under-Lyme.
There are more than 1000 outlets worldwide. 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.
The following are former brands:
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 Financial Times 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.[11]
Whitbread ran 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 4 July 2007, Whitbread announced that it had conditionally agreed to sell the David Lloyd Leisure chain to Versailles Bidco Limited for £925 million. Whitbread will initially use the proceeds from its sale to pay off debt.[12]
Following the success of the management action taken in DLL over the last eighteen months and a review of the health club market, we have decided that this sale represents excellent value for our shareholders. Whitbread is now well placed to deliver the ambitious growth plans for its hotels, restaurants and coffee shops.—Alan Parker, CEO, Whitbread plc
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".
They formerly sponsored the Whitbread Round the World Race, now the Volvo Ocean Race.
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