Chip and PIN payment hitting restaurant tips
Chip and pin, the payment system introduced to stamp out plastic card fraud, has claimed an unintended victim, the restaurant tip. Whereas the old signature system left diners with a blank credit card slip and the chance to add a tip, the new handheld consoles force customers to make an instant settlement. As a result, the British Hospitality Association says that tips have fallen by as much as 15% per cent since October 2003. – The Times, 24 September

Barclay brothers eye Jurys Doyle
The Doyle family is not expected to table a formal €1.2bn offer for Jurys Doyle prior to this Tuesday's egm. At the same time, billionaire property magnates the Barclay brothers and Icelandic retail owner Bauger are believed to have approached Sean Dunne, one of the current bidders, with proposals to fund a possible approach for the entire group. – Irish Independent, 24 September

Jurys Doyle offer branded “mad money”
Property developer Sean Dunne is bidding way over the odds for the Jury's Hotel site, according to his fellow developers. Many of his keenest rivals say he is paying "mad money" for the 4.8-acre site in the heart of Dublin's business district. The Jury's Doyle EGM will consider a €260m offer from Dunne's company Mountbrook. The other bidders are believed to have offered €160-€180m for the site. – Irish Independent, 25 September

Wedding bookings plummet at Jurys Doyle
Wedding bookings at the Berkeley Court and other top Dublin hotels owned by Jurys have crashed amid uncertainty over the group's future. Sources close to the Doyle sisters who run the hotels said advance bookings are drying up and that the effect on the business was "devastating". – Irish Independent, 25 September

Gate Gourmet dispute nears settlement
The bitter dispute between Gate Gourmet and its staff  appears to have been settled. Gate Gourmet has released a statement agreed with the union saying that good progress had been made during renewed talks. A further meeting will be held tomorrow when "all parties hope to be able successfully to conclude their discussions". If agreement over new terms for 667 staff being made redundant is reached this week a new deal with BA is likely to be signed - safeguarding 1,400 remaining jobs. – Sunday Telegraph, 25 September

Government to control sales from school vending machines
Vending machines selling fizzy drinks, chocolates and crisps are to be banned from the country’s state schools under laws to improve children’s diets. Ruth Kelly, the education secretary, has decided that not only meals but also the machines will be covered by nutritional standards for school food. Junk food and sweets currently sold in the machines will have to be replaced by fruit, milk and bottled water. – Sunday Times, 25 September

Scotland’s Peat Inn up for sale
The Peat Inn, one of Scotland's most famous restaurants, has been put up for sale for offers over £750,000 after the owners announced their plans to retire. David Wilson took over the rundown pub in the hamlet of the same name near St Andrews in Fife in the 1970s and turned it into a showcase for high-quality Scottish cooking. In 1985, it became the first restaurant in Scotland to earn a coveted Michelin star. – Scotland on Sunday, 25 September

Whitbread’s Chiswell Brewery site sold
Whitbread will close a 255-year chapter in its history with the sale of its Chiswell Street brewery site in the City of London for more than £50m. It is selling the site, once its head office but today used as a conference and banqueting facility, to Earls Court & Olympia Group (ECO), owner of the west London exhibition centres. – Sunday Times, 25 September

Macdonald Hotels lose key director
A key director of Macdonald Hotels, which quit the stock market two years ago, has left to join a laser technology company. Scott Christie, Macdonald Hotels' chief operating officer and a member of the team which masterminded the group's £157m buyout, has joined Intense as its chief financial officer. – Scotland on Sunday, 25 September

Irish leisure developer to open hotels in former Yugoslavia
Irish fitness club owner Philip Smyth is developing two hotels in the centre of Sarajevo, the one-time war-torn capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, investing €4m in a redevelopment of the Central hotel in the city. His company, Templeville Developments, is also developing a 50-bedroom hotel in the centre of Bascarsija, the old town in Sarajevo. – Sunday Times (Irish edition), 25 September