The independent restaurant group, Le Bistrot Pierre has reported a hugely successful final quarter of 2015 having opened on Christmas Day for the first time in the group’s 21 year history.
The bistrots, set up by school friends Rob Beacham and John Whitehead, experienced a 10% increase in revenue like-for-like in the month of December, as well as lunch takings increasing by 13.6% and dinner seeing a rise of 4.2%.
Authentic French cooking proved a popular choice for people across the country as the group’s 14 bistrots recorded up to 95% capacity during the two sittings available on Christmas Day.
The number of restaurants opening on Christmas Day has increased considerably over the last five years with 61% of people choosing to dine out last year on 25 December to avoid the stress associated with cooking at home according to the booking platform Bookatable.
As a particularly pleasant Christmas present, Bistrot Pierre received a £9.8 million investment from private equity investor Livingbridge in December. Rob Beacham, co-owner of Bistrot Pierre, said: “We have had an incredibly successful year, with two new restaurants opening in Bath and Newport, and to have finished 2015 on such a high was fantastic.
“As a business, we are constantly evolving to provide customers with the best possible dining experience so, to meet demand, we chose to open on Christmas Day last year – providing customers with the chance to enjoy our food on the most anticipated, and special, day of the year.
“The bistrots exceeded expectations and each location did incredibly well throughout the Christmas period; we’re already taking bookings for Christmas Day 2016.”
The Christmas Day menu, or Menu de jour de Noël, was a big hit with diners; the most successful options on the day being the roast turkey, accounting for 56% of sales followed by rib-eye steak.
