MAGAZINE

Read the latest issue online here

Some of you may know that Dine Out used to go by the name of Casual Dining Magazine – a title I helped launch during the sector’s boom back in 2013/14. During the pandemic, as the industry’s head spun faster than a tossed pizza dough, we took stock, evolved and expanded the magazine, transforming it into the Dine Out you know (and hopefully love) today.

While the content broadened, with various features and articles being added into the mix, there were a couple of projects that we made sure came with us. One of them being the Industry 100. This exhaustive, in-depth piece summarises the performance of 100 restaurant businesses, with overviews mostly taken from the previous 12 months, as well as flagging 10 impressive operators as ones to watch over the coming year. The Industry 100 launched with Casual Dining Magazine, which means the issue you’re reading contains its 12th iteration – that’s a lot of business data right there.

Putting together such a huge article not only allows us to catch up with the current state of affairs across a wide spectrum of concepts and business sizes, but it also makes for a reflective overview of the sector as a whole every year that we produce it. From capturing the soaring success of those early adopting casual dining brands and sussing out which large acquisition is paying off for the giants in the industry, to admiring the small multiples growing diligently one site at a time, it paints a picture, sometimes pretty, sometimes not so much.

This year, it’s a very mixed bag, as you might expect. From page 16, you’ll be able to see the effect that National Insurance Contributions and business rates have had on many outfits, showcased contrastingly alongside those concepts that have captured the hearts and wallets of the millions of people who still love dining out on a regular basis.   

Tristan O’Hana
Editorial director