?Casual restaurant group, Bill’s has seen a like-for-like sales increase of 8.1% across the festive period, compared to Christmas 2018.
David Campbell, Chief Executive of Bill’s, said, “We had a great Christmas with our London restaurants were 10.8% ahead of the market over the six week Christmas period, and across the rest of the UK our restaurants were +13.1% vs the market. Christmas bookings increased by 100,000, a 6% increase from last year. We also saw an increase in sales of our Christmas specials menu by 40% year-on-year.”
Bolstered by this successful festive period the group looked to their next venture of rolling-out a more extensive dinner menu. Trialling the new menu in their Covent Garden restaurant in October Bill’s saw the revenue leap to be 26% above the rest of the estate, a clear indication that consumers were receiving the new dinner menu well.
Key features of the new dinner menu include daily changing specials, as well as healthy and indulgent dishes including Bill’s Fish Pie, Duck Pie, Bill’s Hamburger and Glow Bowl. All dishes are fresh and seasonal and there will be menu changes across the year to reflect this.
The menu has always had a strong emphasis on vegetarian food and fresh produce which stems from Founder Bill Collison’s days as a greengrocer and the basis of the first restaurant in Lewes. As well as reacting to the current market trend for more plant-based dishes, the chain is proud that nearly 50% of their dishes on the new dinner menu are vegan or vegetarian.
Bill's is currently running special Veganuary menus for January and February which have already seen an increase of 10% comparable to last year’s sales. Key vegan and vegetarian dishes on the new dinner menu include Moving Mountain Burger – Mushroom and beetroot patty with lettuce, tomato, red onion and mayo on a bun, served with vegan fries, as well as Carrot, Mushroom and Cashew Nut Wellington with butterbean mash, long stem broccoli and rich vegetable gravy.
The physical menus have also undergone a complete redesign to reflect the new elegance across all the restaurants. They have a new premium feel with golden font and decorative type. The aim is to maintain Bill’s touches through design, the off centre title and the waved headers brings a sense of flare to the menu.
The menu is being teamed with the openings of new look sites across the group which has been overseen meticulously by founder, Bill Collison. His aim with the aesthetics is to create an environment that transcends all dining times in the day but importantly providing a space that customers feel comfortable in for an evening meal.