Rick Stein’s restaurant group serves up losses as jobs cut
Rick Stein’s restaurant group served up higher losses in 2024 amid falling sales and job cuts, it has been revealed.
Spread across three companies, each entity recorded a lower turnover and widening pre-tax losses for 2024 compared to 2023.
The Stein Group includes twelve restaurants, a cookery school in Padstow and a meal kits business.
In August 2024, the group announced plans to expand to central London.
According to new accounts filed with Companies House, The Seafood Restaurant (Padstow) posted a turnover of £18.8m for 2024, down from £20.2m.
Its pre-tax loss also went from £204,000 to £459,000 in the year.
Seafood Trading posted the same turnover decline from £20.2m to £18.8m while its pre-tax loss went from £892,000 to £1.1m.
Stein’s Trading‘s turnover dipped from £11.8m to £11.4m and its pre-tax loss widened from £163,000 to £290,000.
Rick Stein group laments minimum wage rise
A statement signed off by the board said: “2024 continued to feel the prolonged effect of the national cost-of-living crisis, with high inflation levels persisting into the year and consumer confidence diminishing.
“The cost of goods price pressure were partly mitigated through selling price adjusting, menu engineering and effective purchasing practices.
“The sizeable 9.8 per cent increase in national minimum wage put additional strain on profitability with a small recovery recognised through effective labour management.
“The Easter trade in 2024 reported a significant reduction in guest numbers, resulting in a sizeable impact to profitability for a single trading period.
“Beyond June 2024, the group reported a year on year improvement [in] EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation].”
The number of people employed by both The Seafood Restaurant (Padstow) and Seafood Trading declined from 398 to 355 in 2024.
The new accounts also show that Stein Trading’s headcount fell from 252 to 217.