In 1989, the conservative government of the time issued new legislation aimed at breaking up spiralling brewery estates. Breweries had bought up tens of thousands of independent pubs nationwide and the market was becoming dominated by brewery owned and brewery tenanted pubs. There were concerns over lack of competition and inflating prices in the industry.
Every brewery was limited to owning/tenanting 2000 pubs. This meant that some breweries, like Bass & Whitbread, had to sell off hundreds (and for some, thousands) of pubs.
This created a new era, from two perspectives. Firstly, companies like Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns were created, which snapped up these lucrative estates for further development. They then took these estates forward and developed many into typical GastoPubs that are common place today, which lead with a food offering.
Secondly, big breweries had to change their business model to allow for continued growth. Famously, Whitbread scaled down its brewery operations and invested heavily in growing its hotel, restaurant and coffee divisions, which now make up the majority of its business. Brands like Premier Inn, Costa Coffee and Beefeater are all owned by Whitbread, are were grown rapidly in the 1990’s to become the brands they are today. They also purchased & grew brands like David Lloyd, Pizza Hut & Marriot Hotels, which they have since sold as going concerns.
Both of these developments provided great opportunities for Acme. We were heavily involved with spin-off companies like Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns (both of which remain customers today) in maintaining their newly-formed estates and developing new catering-led outlets. We were also involved in many of Whitbreads new ventures, such as new Beefeater restaurants, Costa Coffee stores and TGI Fridays. We’re proud that TGI Friday’s are still a customer of Acme’s today.
The rapid growth of GastoPub & Casual Dining markets really enabled Acme’s Catering Projects department to move to the next level. We went from an equipment supply house to a Catering Project partner. This period was critical in forming the Acme of today.
