Yorkshire Tea maker Bettys & Taylors has seen revenues top £250m despite "significant trading challenges".
The Harrogate-based group comprises five Bettys tearooms, an online business, a craft bakery, a cookery school and tea and coffee merchant Taylors of Harrogate. Accounts show that in the year to the end of October 2021 the group made an operating profit of £11.9m, down from £15m the year previously.
Directors said that despite the tearooms suffering periods of closure during Covid restrictions, the group maintained tea and coffee production at Taylors, and continued to operate its craft bakery. Meanwhile Betty's online delivery services "flourished", driven by demand from new and existing customers.
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Writing in a report accompany the accounts, group director Clare Morrow said: "2021 has once again been a year heavily impacted by the pandemic, which has resulted in some significant trading challenges. The positive decisions taken during the year to pay all of our people in full during the enforced closure of our Bettys branches, and not to claim any financial support from the government, had a negative impact on operating profits in the year.
"In addition, our tea and coffee business experienced increases in the cost of transport, logistics and packaging in the second half of the year, as well as a rise in promotional costs, compared to 2020, as our supermarket customers sought to reinstate consumer offers to levels similar to those experienced prior to the pandemic.
"However, thanks to the resilience of our people, the loyalty of our customers and the guidance provided by our
family business values, we have been able to successfully navigate these challenges and deliver a robust
financial performance. Overall turnover grew by 8.8% (2020: 2%) whilst operating profit has fallen by £3.1m to
£11.9m."
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