Thursday 8 October: Common Table Group acquires 58 Whitbread sites and Subway eyes massive growth

New hospitality group takes over 57 Whitbread restaurants, while Subway plans to double its EMEA footprint and Hawksmoor sees diners trading back up. Collated, not reported. Ops Club did not break these stories, the trade press did. This is a signpost to them. Scripted and read by AI from the Ops Club written edition. The stories are the trade press's, the selection is ours. In this briefing Results & trading updates: Hawksmoor turnover nears £110m as dinner trade strengthens; Subway hits record highs with 'Blueprint' format and evening trials; Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Global reports £152m revenue; Hollywood Bowl warns of 1% like-for-like revenue dip; Mollie's losses widen to £3.2m during expansion phase; Yoda Worldwide KFC revenues reach £86.5m Acquisitions & investment: Common Table Group acquires 58 Whitbread sites; Sodexo buys independent caterer Olive Catering; Generator plans site doubling after Greenwich deal; Uber to buy ezCater for $2.3bn New openings: Auntie Anne's targets 100 new non-high street sites; The Beefy Boys head to Cambridge Promotions & people moves: Angel Zapata Martin joins Brindisa as chef director; Wells & Co appoints Gavin George as non-exec; Pret names Claire Small as UK marketing director Trends & market data: UKHospitality warns of 100,000 lost jobs in two years; Younger diners driving 8.9% growth in chicken shops; One in five diners now uses AI to pick a venue; Gilt yields hit 5.42% as markets brace for Budget Other industry news: Rank Group settles for £5m with Gambling Commission; Jeremy King extends laptop ban at Simpson’s Sources Propel Hospitality Info - Propel Thursday News Briefing Restaurant Online - Common Table Group to acquire 57 former Whitbread sites Restaurant Online - Turnover and profits rise at Hawksmoor Restaurant Online - Angel Zapata Martin joins Brindisa Tapas as chef director The Caterer - Sodexo acquires independent workplace caterer Olive Catering Langton Capital - Amenity values, cost of living, Hollywood Bowl, Hostelworld, KFC & other The full rundown, with a link to every original story, is at ops-club.com/news/2026-10-08. For longer conversations with the people running the sector, find the Hospitality Ops Club podcast at ops-club.com/podcast. Three things to think about With one in five customers already using AI to research their next meal, have you checked how your menus and prices actually appear in a ChatGPT summary or Google AI snapshot? Hawksmoor is seeing customers move back to later evening bookings - is your late-night staffing and kitchen capacity ready to capture a return of the 'dinner and drinks' crowd? Subway is trials mac 'n' cheese and waffle fries to win evening trade; could a high-margin snack menu help your site sweat the hours between lunch and the late-night rush?