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Whitbread has confirmed sweeping changes to its restaurant business, putting chains including Beefeater on course for a major shake-up as it pivots towards a hotel-focused future. The Premier Inn owner said it plans to replace its remaining branded 197 restaurants as part of a new five-year strategy, with some sites set to be converted into hotel rooms and others sold.

Beefeater restaurants were launched in 1974 by Whitbread.The brand has become a familiar name across the UK, known for its grilled dishes and family-friendly British menu. The new proposals are expected to put around 3,800 jobs at risk across the UK and Ireland, subject to consultation. In a statement, the company said: "Whitbread has announced today that, as part of its proposed new Five-Year Plan, it intends to become a pure-play hotel business focused on Premier Inn, the UK's number one hotel brand, which is synonymous with quality and value. This change will involve exiting all of our remaining branded restaurants, which trade under brands including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, a number of which will be converted into approximately 600 additional Premier Inn rooms, with the remainder expected to be sold as going concerns.

The proposals build on Whitbread's 2024 Accelerating Growth Plan, which saw more than 200 branded restaurants converted into hotel rooms alongside the introduction of integrated dining within each site.

The company said this model has proved popular with guests and would be extended to all hotels that currently have a branded restaurant.

A spokesperson added: "We recognise the impact of this proposal on colleagues who work at the affected sites.

"As a business which recruits around 15,000 people every year, we expect to be able to retain a significant proportion of those affected and will be looking to redeploy as many of our impacted colleagues as possible.

"However, we do anticipate that the proposed changes, which are subject to consultation, would result in a reduction of around 3,800 roles of a total UK and Ireland workforce of around 30,000.

"We will do all we can to support those colleagues affected."

The move signals a significant shift for Whitbread, which owns a number of well-known restaurant brands, with Beefeater among those set to be affected by the overhaul.

Under the plans, hundreds of sites could be repurposed or sold, while the group doubles down on its Premier Inn hotels, aiming to streamline operations and improve returns.

Whitbread is reported to be aiming to generate £2bn in free cash flow by 2031 as part of a sweeping overhaul, which includes recycling £1.5bn of property assets and cutting capital spending by more than £1bn.

The plans will see its freehold property mix reduced to between 30% and 40%, down from around 50%, bringing it more in line with rivals such as Hilton and Marriott International, which own a smaller proportion of their sites.

Bosses have already begun converting underperforming restaurant sites into hotel rooms in a bid to drive returns, with the latest overhaul marking a major escalation of those efforts.