Casual Dining Sector

Cashless coffee shop in Dublin may be first of its kind in Ireland

Irish Examiner– 08.04.2019

A new Dublin coffee shop may be the first in Ireland where customers cannot pay with cash.  Bear Market Coffee, on George Street, is completely cash-free, which owners Ruth and Stephen Deasy say means staff can concentrate on providing better customer service. Bear Market partnered with Magnet Networks, a telecommunications and data connectivity provider, to include a pre-order app and WiFi. Ruth said the idea came after a visit to a cashless store in New York, and added: “We thought it was a lot more relaxed and a quicker process to get to the till and get your coffee, and the customer service element was more streamlined.  When we started looking at our figures, we found that around 80% of our sales were on card.”

Contract Catering Sector

British Caterer Compass to Buy Nordic Rival Fazer Food for €475m

Hospitality Ireland – 04.06.2019

British catering group Compass has agreed to buy Nordic rival Fazer Food Services for approximately €475 million, the two companies have announced. In the past year, Compass, which provides meals for office workers, armed forces and school children in more than 50 countries, has been cutting costs and focussing on its food business, while reducing non-core operations. Finland-based Fazer Food Services employs 7,000 employees at more than 1,000 sites in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Estonia. Compass will pay €420 million in cash, with the rest of the acquisition payment payable within seven years, dependent on closing balance sheet adjustments and the operation of an earn-out.