What does a 225-store bubble tea deal have in common with 52 supermarket cafés shutting down? March 2025 gave a pretty blunt answer: if the model doesn’t scale cleanly, it’s getting redesigned, franchised, or cut.
This is the month before the April cost step-change really bites, with operators staring at wage and national insurance changes and trying to decide what to protect, what to simplify, and what to push for growth. The loudest moves were all about control, controlling costs, controlling consistency, and controlling demand.
Franchising stops being a tactic and becomes the plan
The most eye-catching number of the month came from Gong Cha, which signed a franchise agreement with Jinziex to open at least 225 new UK stores, creating nearly 2,000 jobs. That is not “a bit of expansion”, that’s a landgrab. And it fits the broader March pattern: operators choosing models that can multiply quickly, with someone else carrying a chunk of the capex and local operating risk.
Master franchise is back in fashion
It wasn’t just bubble tea. Marugame Udon signed a UK master franchise agreement with Karali Group, shifting from corporate-owned to a fully franchised model across the UK and Ireland. Yolk Brands and City Restaurants Group put a 50-site number on the table for BonBird over five years. Elangeni Hospitality Group lined up 15 franchised Benito’s stores in its pipeline, targeting 40 by 2029.
For operators, the takeaway is slightly uncomfortable: franchising only works if the guest experience is engineered, not hoped for. The brands about to grow fast are the ones with training, spec, supply chain, and measurement nailed down tightly enough that a site in Glasgow doesn’t “feel” like a different business to one in Oxford.
Casual dining’s new shape, bigger groups and cleaner stories
March also reinforced that the mid-market restaurant world is being reorganised into fewer, larger platforms, and a bunch of rescued brands with sharper cost control. TriSpan consolidating Rosa’s Thai, Pho, and Mowgli into Arcturus Group is the cleanest example, with Jason Cotta appointed as CEO and a stated plan to open 20 restaurants across the three brands throughout 2025.
That’s not just a portfolio reshuffle, it’s a bet that shared infrastructure is now a competitive advantage. One training engine. One property pipeline. One approach to guest feedback and online reviews. A lot fewer “reinvent the wheel” moments.
Meanwhile, Cherry Equity Partners has been busy doing the less glamorous work, buying Cabana out of administration for £445,000 and acquiring Bistrot Pierre out of administration (with ten sites continuing to trade and eight closing, resulting in 158 redundancies, while 394 jobs were safeguarded). Nobody wants to talk about administration, but it’s part of the market’s reset: sites and brands that can be made simpler and more disciplined are getting a second life.
And then there’s PizzaExpress, lining up a circa £30m cash injection from shareholders to refinance debt. Not expansion headlines, but still a sign of the times: even big names are prioritising balance sheet breathing room so they can keep investing where it actually moves customer satisfaction.
April cost shock: policy, pay, and the £5 pint problem
If March had a background noise, it was the drumbeat of “next month gets more expensive”. UK Government plans to entitle more than one million low-paid workers to 80% of weekly salary as sick pay from day one, via updates to the Employment Rights Bill. Whether the policy is fair or not, operators know exactly how it lands: more absence risk, more rota complexity, more cost in a labour-heavy industry that already runs on tight margins.
The pint goes over a fiver
The British Beer & Pub Association warned the average cost of a pint will rise above £5, tying it to higher wages, national insurance, and reduced business rates relief. On top of that, the BBPA said new recycling rules will cost pubs £60m annually, equating to 5,000 workers. These aren’t abstract numbers. They’re the reason menus get trimmed, trading hours get tested, and “do we still run lunch on Tuesdays?” becomes a genuine conversation.
Hotels are feeling the political squeeze too. Whitbread CEO Dominic Paul warned that government interventions, including higher labour costs and potential surcharges on overnight accommodation, are hindering hospitality growth. Add in places like Bristol City Council exploring a £2 per night “tourist tax” and it’s clear that guest pricing is going to stay a contentious topic through 2025.
Leisure doubles down on destination, while weaker formats fall away
Away from food and drink, March showed leisure operators continuing to chase bigger, stickier reasons for people to leave the house, even as some older offers quietly tap out.
The boldest UK-facing expansion headline was Centre Parcs unveiling plans for its first Scottish holiday village, with 700 lodges plus a spa and water park. That’s a long-term wager on staycation demand and on families still paying for “all-in” experiences when discretionary spending is tight.
At the same time, Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire closed after nearly 40 years, with owner Aspro Parks citing economic challenges and declining visitor numbers. This is the uncomfortable truth about footfall: if the experience feels tired, there’s no amount of discounting that fixes it permanently.
In the “new demand magnets” category, Red Engine (Flight Club and Electric Shuffle) said it’s targeting 84 venues by 2030 after reporting revenue up 15% to £77.1m, and Powerleague committed £14m to build 17 new padel clubs by 2026. Even Market Halls buying Shelter Hall in Brighton in a multi-million-pound deal reads the same way: concentrate demand into a format built for groups, choice, and repeat visits.
The pattern here is simple. Guests will travel for something they can’t get at home, but they won’t forgive sloppy execution once they arrive.
Behind these March stories was one shared calculation: either get big enough that the cost shocks can be absorbed and spread, or get distinctive enough that guests accept the price. The operators winning attention right now are the ones treating consistency like a product, not a by-product, because once you scale through franchising or multi-brand groups, the smallest service wobble becomes a reputation problem at speed.
Where measurement matters
Franchise growth, multi-brand groups, and experiential leisure all create the same operational risk: the guest experience varies by site, daypart, and team, and online reviews make sure everyone sees it. That’s where structured measurement earns its keep, especially when you’re rolling out fast or integrating new sites. A well-designed mystery programme can spot execution drift early, before it shows up as a 0.3 drop in Google rating across a region, so Mystery Customer Visits stay a practical tool, not a “nice to have”. And if March taught us anything about 2025, it’s that operators need one version of the truth across venues, which is why pulling Google, TripAdvisor and Facebook into Online Reviews Monitoring helps teams react to real guest feedback quickly, not anecdotally.
April will bring the cost reality check, and Easter trading will show which formats have genuine pull when wallets tighten. The sector’s not slowing down, it’s just choosing its shapes faster than ever. If you’d like a sample report or a quick chat about what’s possible, get in touch.