U.K. pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon now makes 38% of it sales from food

By Louis Goss

J.D. Wetherspoon, the British pub chain best known for selling cheap pints of beer, has said it now makes almost two-fifths of its revenue by selling food as company chairman Tim Martin hit out at "daft" plans aimed at lowering U.K. alcohol consumption.

The pint seller that is widely known by the nickname 'Spoons' generated 38% of its GBP58.1 billion worth of sales in the full-year ending on July 28 by selling food, compared to just 18% of its overall revenue in the year 2000.

Wetherspoons, which was started in 1979 before growing into one of the popular pub chains in the U.K., said it now sells around GBP22,000 worth of food per pub each week, compared to sums of just GBP4,000 per pub at the turn of the millennium.

JD Wetherspoons' higher food sales sit in-line with long-term trends that have seen the British lower their alcohol consumption over the previous decade and instead spend more money on eating out in cafes and restaurants.

U.K. drinking habits have also shifted over the past 40 years in what has led to more alcohol being consumed at home. In the 1980s, 90% of beer sales were made in pubs, clubs and restaurants compared to just 40% today.

In a statement, Wetherspoons' founder Tim Martin said plans put forward by the U.K. government to further restrict pub opening times could now make the situation worse for pubs in driving a shift towards more home drinking.

The U.K.'s new Labour Party health minister Andrew Gwynne outlined the plans at the political party's conference in Liverpool last month before a Department of Health spokesperson denied Britain's new government has any plans to restrict opening hours, according to The Independent.

"The effect of reducing pub opening times would certainly further reduce on-trade consumption, but that reduction is likely to be replaced by "off-trade" consumption at home and in other 'unregulated' environments," Martin said.

The Wetherspoons' chairman also hit out at "slightly daft" proposals put forward by University of Cambridge researchers to limit the size of 'pints' by selling drinks in schooners, as he said the plans could drive even more customers out of pubs if implemented.

"Common sense indicates that reducing glass sizes is unlikely, due to human nature, to reduce alcohol consumption in pubs, and would also have no effect whatsoever on drinks bought in supermarkets," Martin said.

Wetherspoons, which currently runs 800 pubs across the U.K. and Ireland, meanwhile, said it sold a total of 34 million breakfasts in the 52 weeks ending in July, in a surge that also helped boost its coffee sales.

The Watford headquartered company previously became one of the largest coffee sellers in the U.K. after extending its breakfast hours in 2010 in a move that saw its pubs start serving full-English breakfasts from 7am to 12 noon for seven days a week.

The pub chain said it now sells double the amount of refillable hot drinks compared to its most popular draught product Pepsi.

J.D. Wetherspoon (UK:JDW)shares, listed on the London Stock Exchange, were up fractionally on Friday morning having lost 10% of their value in the year-to-date.

-Louis Goss

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10-04-24 0705ET

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