Major expansion plans have been revealed by the owner of iconic bars, restaurants and venues in Manchester after posting record Christmas sales.
Mission Mars is aiming to open four new Rudy’s Pizza and one new Albert’s Schloss this year after seeing its sales rise to £16m in the 13 weeks to January 1, 2023.
The company, which is backed by private equity firm BGF, also owns Manchester's Albert Hall while it also has sites in Sheffield, Warrington, London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds.
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The firm's a total revenue of £16m was up 69% compared to the same period in 2021/22.
Manchester-headquartered Mission Mars said its sales were helped after opening six new Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana as well as one new Albert’s Schloss in Liverpool in November.
For the period from November 28 to January 1, the group's like-for-like sales increased 26% compared to the same five-week period in the prior year.
Mission Mars said the growth was driven by record sales in both brands of the business.
Overall Rudy’s revenue jumped by 86% in the Christmas period, driven by organic growth and new venues "performing strongly". Revenue at the nine like-for-like pizzerias increased by 37%.
The three Albert’s Schloss venues saw revenue grow to £4.3m for the five-week period, an increase of 104% on the prior year. Albert’s Schloss Manchester delivered like-for-like growth of 29%.
Mission Mars added that it is "delighted" with the first four full weeks of trading of Albert’s Schloss Liverpool.
Chief executive Roy Ellis said: "I am delighted with the quarter’s trade, in particular the festive period performance.
"Despite numerous external challenges, our team members have helped the group deliver an industry leading group guest experience score of 73.7% for the quarter, an increase of 1.2% versus the same period in the prior year.
"The group is spending a significant amount of time monitoring and analysing the externals pressure the sector is facing.
"We have been delighted to reduce our colleague turnover levels to the lowest levels we have seen and are determined to drive down further through continued investment in our training, development and team engagement.
"In 2022 we were proud to increase our pay structure to start at Real Living Wage rates as a minimum, and will continue this through 2023.
"Strong trading across all venues for a sustained period of time provides us with confidence that the Albert’s Schloss brand and Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana brand are well set to continue to deliver growth and are likely to trade extremely well in all parts of the UK.
"We continue to search for the best locations to continue our growth with four new Rudy’s and one new Albert’s Schloss currently in legals anticipated to open in 2023."
In July 2022, BusinessLive reported that Mission Mars' revenue increased to £6.9m in the six months to March that year, a like-for-like rise of 15.7% on the same time in 2019.
Rudy's Pizza delivered a revenue of £7.3m, compared to £2.8m pre-pandemic. Group EBITDA for the first six months also totalled £2m.
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