Loungers, the fast-growing Bristol-based café-bar chain, has announced plans to have at least 500 sites in its portfolio after serving up a 200%-plus growth in annual sales.
The group, which operates its outlets under the Lounge and Cosy Club brands, has just opened its 200th venue but is already looking ahead to having more than 500. 
The group has built its national reach on the success of the model it established in its early days in Bristol suburbs such as Fishponds, Westbury-on-Trym and on Gloucester Road.
Strong trading in the year to 17 April meant it has bounced back from the turmoil caused by the pandemic, with pre-tax profits coming in at £21m against a loss of £14.7m loss in the previous year in sales up by 203% to £237.3m.
It said it had also overcome macroeconomic challenges such as inflation, supply chain issues and staff shortages and, despite the cost-of-living crisis, had not yet seen any shift in how its customers are behaving.
The group said: “Whilst the short-term outlook is of course uncertain, we remain confident in the future prospects for Loungers given the quality and value of our all-day offering.
“In addition, our pipeline of new openings is well developed and we continue to see a wealth of excellent opportunities to occupy prime pitches on the high street.
“This, combined with our recently expanded fit-out teams, means that we now have the capacity to roll-out over 30 sites a year and expect to have at least 500 sites in the UK across both of our brands in the future.
Loungers chief executive officer Nick Collins added: “These results demonstrate the extent to which Loungers has thrived over the past year, achieving a record number of openings, record underlying like for like sales growth and a record level of profits.
“We are benefitting from changes in consumer behaviour, with more people staying local, working from home, and supporting their local community and high street.
“We are delighted to have just opened our 200th site, and to be announcing that we are increasing our roll-out target for site openings to 30 for this year.
“Whilst the short-term economic outlook is challenging, we are in an excellent position to weather the storm and to take advantage of growth opportunities coming out of it.
“We have a strong balance sheet, a very capable and highly motivated team and an affordable, value for money all-day offer with enormous scope for further expansion across the UK.”
