Loungers plans six openings in 2011
Loungers, the company behind the Lounge cafe/bar brand and casual dining and drinking brand the Cosy Club, is set to open another six venues in 2011.
The firm opened five new properties last year, culminating with the Pinto Lounge in Banbury, its 16th site.
Meanwhile it also plans to open the Loco Lounge in the Kings Heath suburb of Birmingham at the beginning of March, and a deal is in place for the opening of a second Lounge in the Shirley suburb of Southampton. The group has also secured a site for its second Cosy Club, which will be in the SouthGate shopping centre in Bath and is set to open in late spring.
Loungers also has one Lounge site at the planning stage in Bournemouth and a third Cosy Club site in Exeter.
Commenting on the group's expansion, Loungers MD Alex Reilley said: "2010 represented a major step-change for us in terms of our roll-out, particularly as we'd not previously opened more than two units in one year. It was also an extremely significant year for us as we opened a couple of larger units, most notably in Plymouth & Bournemouth, and launched the Cosy Club, which to date has proved to be extremely successful and, like the Lounge concept, we believe has fantastic roll-out potential.
"We've got some great sites lined up for 2011, in particular we're extremely excited about our Cosy Club opening in Bath which, whilst it's almost entirely at 1st floor level, is a fantastic and extremely prominent site in the new Southgate shopping development".
Loungers' annualised net turnover rose 70% to £12m as a result of the 2010 openings and is expected to climb to £17m with the addition of the six new sites in 2011. Reilley also indicated that the business is able to fund its roll-out going forward without the need for any new or additional bank debt.
The business has identified enough areas where it believes its concepts will work to grow the business to 40 sites (roughly 30 Lounge sites & 10 Cosy Club sites) without going north of the Midlands or going into London or the South East. Seven openings are planned for 2012.
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By Neil Gerrard
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