Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito owner, the Restaurant Group, is set to speed up new openings next year after it successfully unveiled 21 new sites across the country, with a further 14 more due before January.
The decision came as the company, which owns 420 pubs and restaurants mainly in airports, shopping centres and leisure parks, revealed sales for the nine months to November 10 jumped 9.1%.
Diner numbers fell in the past three months compared with a year ago, mainly because of how few smash hit films there are in cinemas.
With dozens of the company’s restaurants next to cinema complexes, the business last year benefited, particularly from the latest James Bond film.
By the end of the year, up to 35 new restaurants will be open and the company said it wants to open a “greater number” in 2014, although bosses declined to say how many they had in mind.
Profit expectations remain on track, with analysts predicting a pre-tax profit of £71.6 million.
