Rank will not need to rely on foodstuffs coming through ports if there is disruption

The gambling group Rank has drawn up an emergency “Brexit menu” for its Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino chains, which it will roll out if food and drink supplies are disrupted in a no-deal departure from the European Union.

“Our Brexit menu doesn’t rely on foodstuffs coming through ports from the continent,” said John O’Reilly, the chief executive of Rank, which operates about 150 casinos and Mecca Bingo outlets.

“For example, the menu has drinks and all sorts of beers that are UK-brewed as opposed to coming from the continent.

“And we would use [British-sourced] langoustines instead of [imported] prawns. The menus are raring to go for both Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos. We will all face those challenges of the difficulty getting fresh food produce into ports.”

Last September, Bidfood UK, which is the sole provider of food served in Britain’s prisons and also supplies schools, hospitals and care homes, said it had started approaching customers about changing their menus as a contingency plan against potential border delays.

O’Reilly also said that a no-deal Brexit could wreak havoc with about 100 staff who cross the border daily to work at Rank’s digital headquarters in Gibraltar.

The company, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a £600m market value, raised a host of concerns over Britain crashing out of the EU, but O’Reilly said the group was as “prepared as it can be for a no-deal Brexit”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rank’s chief executive, John O’Reilly, says the no-deal Brexit menu would include British-sourced langoustines instead of imported prawns. Photograph: Sergei Pivovarov/Getty Images

It is putting plans in place to try to cope with the potential impact on a significant portion of its almost 10,000 staff who are EU nationals.

O’Reilly said that staff crossing the Spanish-Gibraltar border for work were already frequently becoming stuck in significant queues.

“The border can be difficult [now] and who knows what it will be like post a no-deal Brexit,” he said. “In the short-term you have to ensure people can log on from home, that the [internet] network has the bandwidth to work from home. But that is a short-lived solution that is less than ideal.”

He also said that the company is facing staffing concerns related to Brexit in London, where “slightly above” 25% of its workforce in the capital are EU nationals. Rank employs about 2,000 to 2,500 staff in London, with about 500 to 600 of those from the EU.

“The EU national issue is particularly centred on London for us; we have eight casinos in the capital,” he said. “The challenge is potentially after a no-deal Brexit they might not be able to stay in the UK.”

O’Reilly said the company is working with staff who want to stay in a post-Brexit scenario to gain the necessary “settled status” to legally remain working. “We are helping people to do what is necessary to get settled status if they want it.”

However, he added that Rank could struggle to replenish its workforce in the capital post-Brexit if there are problems with EU nationals being able to come and freely work in the UK.

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“Come November it is not necessarily the case that [staff] haven’t applied for settled status, it is because they don’t want to as [many] are fairly transient folk who come for summer to work and have fun,” he said. “This [supply of workers] could all change.”

Rank’s operating profits slumped by more than a fifth to £39m in the year to the end of June as a drop in visitors and spending at its venues hit the company’s bottom line. However, Rank said that business picked up significantly in the second half of its financial year with profits up 20%.

Under O’Reilly, a former Ladbrokes and Gala Coral senior executive, who joined last May, the company is aiming to significantly boost its digital operations, which account for about 15% of its £700m annual revenues. In the last year Rank has acquired the Spanish digital gaming operator YoBingo and recently paid £115m to buy the UK digital gambling technology operator Stride. O’Reilly says the acquisition of Stride will double the size of the digital business.

Rank derives more than 80% of its total revenues from its operations in Britain, where nearly all of its physical casinos and bingo halls are located. It also has a small operation in Belgium, where it has one physical casino. In Spain, it is the fourth-largest operator of bingo halls, with nine.