Chef & Brewer aids S&N profits boost

Strong growth from its Chef & Brewer chain helped raise interim pre-tax profits at Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) by 7.3% to £222m, the company revealed this week.

Food sales in the group's branded pubs grew by 15%, against the market average growth of 7%.

At Chef & Brewer, sales were up by 43% and profits by 70%. Even longer-established pubs saw sales grow by 14% and profits by 26%, S&N said.

The mix of sales in Chef & Brewer is now 60% food and 40% drink.

Bob Ivell, managing director of restaurants and developments, put the sales growth down to a focus on fresh food in traditional surroundings.

Rival chains had been "deskilling" their kitchens and using more pre-prepared food, said Ivell. "We've put chefs back in the kitchen. We do fresh food and sell fresh fish, which in the past four years has grown dramatically."

S&N plans to turn 70 of the 565 pubs and pub restaurants bought from Greenalls earlier this month into Chef & Brewers.