This statement sets out the steps we have taken to identify and address potential risks, supporting our objective of eradicating modern slavery from all aspects of our business.
Structure and Supply Chains
The Big Table Group is one of the UK’s leading independent restaurant companies, employing over 5,000 people and serving millions of meals across approximately 230 locations. Our brands include Las Iguanas, Bella Italia, Frankie & Benny’s, Banana Tree, Café Rouge, Amalfi, and Chiquito.
Our centralised Procurement team works with around 100 suppliers, building strong relationships based on trust and transparency. We use Ideagen Supply Chain, an industry-leading supply chain mapping tool, to understand ingredient sourcing and identify exposure in different countries. High-risk countries currently include Thailand, India, Italy, Spain, and the UK.
Our aim is to embed best practice supply chain assurance that is resilient to risk. To achieve this, we require direct suppliers to collaborate with all their supply chain partners—including raw material producers, distributors, wholesalers, and agents—to uphold these standards.
Policies
Ethical Trading
All direct suppliers and their supply chain partners must comply with UK and EU legislation relating to ethical trading and worker welfare, including:
Monitoring and Reporting
Responsibility for monitoring supplier audits and self-assessments through Ideagen Supply Chain lies with our Technical Manager. We conduct quarterly reviews to assess overall compliance and progress against our policies.
Next Steps for 2024
Our recent acquisitions—Banana Tree, Frankie & Benny’s, and Chiquito—have now been fully integrated into Ideagen Supply Chain in line with Modern Slavery Act compliance requirements. This includes our supplier questionnaire, designed to raise awareness among all suppliers, particularly new ones, about their obligations under the Act.
We have updated risk mapping for new and existing suppliers by product category and source location and extended this to all first-tier suppliers, including Property and Marketing.
We require suppliers to confirm their compliance with the Modern Slavery Act and to cooperate fully if any incidents of slavery or human trafficking are identified within their supply chains.
We use Ideagen Supply Chain to report on effectiveness, including key performance indicators (KPIs):
We will also provide refresher training for new Procurement, Marketing, and Property colleagues to ensure awareness of modern slavery risks as part of their sourcing responsibilities. This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) “Transparency in Supply Chains” of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes The Big Table Group’s modern slavery and human trafficking statement. It will be reviewed and updated annually.
Signed by
Alan Morgan, Chief Executive Officer, The Big Table Group Limited, February 2024.
TAX STRATEGY
ISABELA TOPCO LIMITED
Introduction
The Group tax strategy is prepared and published in accordance with the requirements of Schedule 19 of the Finance Act 2016. The strategy relates to Isabela Topco Limited and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) and covers the 2025 year.
The Group owns and operates restaurants across the UK.
This strategy has been approved by the Board of Directors and is supported by the Group’s values and obligations to stakeholders.
The Group’s policy is to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations and reporting requirements relating to the Group.
Risk management and governance
The Group is committed to tax compliance. The business of the Group involves a high volume of transactions with a range of processes to manage tax compliance. The Group ensures compliance by maintaining suitable systems and workstreams, which are monitored by skilled staff. The Group has established processes that enable accurate reporting for tax purposes. System controls and process checks are in place to ensure early detection of risks.
Responsibility for the management of tax matters is the CFO of the Group, who is also the Senior Accounting Officer for the Group.
The CFO is supported by the Financial Controller, the Brand Finance Directors and the Chief Information Officer who ensure tax compliance by day-to-day management of key workstreams and processes.
The CFO reports to the Group’s Board, bringing key tax matters to the Board’s attention. The Group is supported by external advisors, who have the appropriate qualifications and experience to advise on tax law and its application, and who are consulted on key decisions that are tax related.
Tax Planning
The Group’s tax affairs are relatively straightforward given the Group is UK based and operates in a sector that is not complex. The business is consuming facing, with no complicated revenue streams and has straightforward cost structures.
The Group seeks to comply with tax legislation in a transparent way. The Group does not implement complex tax arrangements.
Any business decisions made that impact tax are made within the letter and spirit of the law. Where tax guidance is unclear, or the Group does not have the necessary knowledge to assess the tax consequences, then external advice is obtained to support the decision-making process.
Relationship with HMRC
The Group has an open and honest relationship with HMRC. The Group has an annual business review with HMRC that includes discussion on the business and the sector including any significant changes since the previous review.
The Group seeks to ensure that all returns are submitted within the statutory deadlines and that all taxes due are paid promptly. In the event of any material errors, the Group will notify HMRC as soon as possible and review processes and controls to mitigate any further errors. We respond promptly to questions raised by HMRC and ensure information is provided in support of our response.
Approved by the Audit Committee: 19 September 2024.
Published: 3rd March 2025.
By making this strategy available we are complying with our duty under paragraph16(2) and paragraph 25(1), Schedule 19 of the Finance Act 2016.
The Big Table Group Gender Pay Report - Understanding Our Gender Pay Gap
We are a relevant employer required by law to carry out Gender Pay Reporting under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. This involves carrying out calculations that show the difference between the average earnings of men and women in our organisation, as at the 5th April 2024, the snapshot date. It will not include publishing individual employees’ data in a way that is identifiable. Detailed below are the metrics that we are required to report on.
| PAY RATE | MALE | FEMALE | GAP % |
| Mean | £12.30 | £11.20 | 9% |
| Median | £10.61 | £10.42 | 1.8% |
| Pay Rates reported are for Full-Pay Relevant Employees** in the Relevant Pay Period*** | |||
| BONUS RATE | |||
| Mean | £3,144 | £2,603 | 17.2% |
| Median | £1,510 | £1,500 | 0.7% |
| Bonus Amounts reported are for all Relevant Employees**** who received a bonus in the Relevant Bonus Period***** | |||
| QUARTILE PAY BAND | |||
| Lower | 37% | 63% | |
| Lower Middle | 47% | 53% | |
| Upper Middle | 56% | 44% | |
| Upper | 67% | 33% | |
| Quartile Pay Bands reported are based on Pay Rates of Full-Pay Relevant Employees in the Relevant Pay Period | |||
| PAID BONUS | |||
| Total Employees Paid | 2,052 | 1,944 | |
| # Paid Bonus | 452 | 295 | |
| % Paid Bonus | 22% | 15.2% | |
| % Paid Bonus shows proportion of Relevant Employees who received a bonus in the Relevant Bonus Period | |||
|
Pay Rate* total amount paid (ordinary pay + bonus pay), in the relevant pay period, converted to an hourly rate Full-Pay Relevant Employees** any employee who is employed on the snapshot date and who is paid their usual full basic pay (or pay for piecework) during the relevant pay period Relevant Pay Period*** the pay period within which the snapshot date (April 5) falls Relevant Employees**** all employees employed by the employer on the snapshot date of a given year Relevant Bonus Period***** is a twelve month period that ends on the snapshot date |
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Reporting on our gender pay gap allows us to gain a greater awareness of the causes of the gap in pay between men and women, as well as identifying issues that may contribute to this gap. It is important to remember that having a gap in pay between males and females does not indicate that discrimination is currently happening in the workplace—there could be several reasons for this, from past social developments to changing attitudes towards work. Nonetheless, we are committed to taking action to close the gap, irrespective of the reasons for it.
We use market pay rates for our restaurant-based roles, ensuring that our teams’ pay reflects the relevant skills and knowledge required to perform each role, rather than being based on gender. Women continue to be well represented in both our senior leadership and restaurant management teams.
This year, our median gender pay gap has reduced significantly to 0.6% (from 1.8% last year), and our mean pay gap has improved to 5.1% (down from 9% last year). One of the reasons for the remaining gap is that we still have a greater number of females (63%) working in lower quartile pay band roles, such as ‘Waiting Team Member,’ which are paid broadly at the National Minimum Wage. At the same time, a higher number of males occupy skilled roles such as Chefs, which have higher hourly rates.
Furthermore, our CEO and CFO, both male, continue to have a greater bonus potential, which affects the mean bonus gap percentage. While the mean bonus gap has improved from 17.2% last year to 11.0% this year, this difference remains largely due to the structure of senior roles. The median bonus gap has now reversed in favour of female employees (-43.1%), meaning that the median female bonus is higher than the median male bonus. This trend is driven by a higher proportion of males in junior salaried roles, typically in back-of-house positions that offer lower bonuses, while females are more predominantly represented in Assistant Manager (AM) and General Manager (GM) roles.
It is also important to note that tips (cash and Tronc) are not included in the Gender Pay Gap calculation. We expect that roles such as ‘Waiting Team Member’ (which have a higher proportion of female employees) receive a greater amount of tips than other roles, which is not reflected in these figures.
Across the group, 58% of our General Managers are male and 42% are female. Our female General Managers continue to earn slightly more than their male counterparts (by 0.4%), due to some of our larger restaurants being led by female General Managers. Additionally, 50% of our Brand Managing Directors are female, a proportion that is also closely reflected in our Senior Leadership team structure.
At The Big Table Group, we value diversity and inclusion as a core part of our business. We are proud to say that everyone is welcome at Big Table. Every person has an opportunity to grow and develop their careers with us, and we place great importance on treating one another equally and paying people fairly for the role they perform, regardless of their gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status (including civil partnerships), race or ethnic origin, disability, part-time or fixed term working, and trade union membership. We also have fixed pay bands across all of our restaurants to ensure fair and equal pay.
All customer cash tips and service charges are kept by restaurant employees in full.
All tips and service charge payments collected by the company, whether by credit card, debit card, or payment via our digital platforms (collectively referred to as “tronc”) are distributed in full to our employees without deduction.
All employees have an opportunity to vote anonymously on how they wish tronc to be distributed in their brand. Any tronc payment is paid in addition to National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. We do not charge any administration fees or make any other company deductions.
Any tips paid in cash are retained by the individual waiter and do not form part of the tronc. It is the responsibility of those receiving cash tips to declare the income for tax purposes to HM Revenue & Customs. The company does not participate in any aspect of cash tips.
The Big Table Group Limited is fully compliant with the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023. A copy of the Tronc Policy and current distribution rules is made available to all employees on their first day of employment. This is reviewed on an annual basis.
Our employees also benefit from 50% Employee Discount across all The Big Table Group Brands on food and drink, Team Meals whilst on duty, savings on 100's of retailers and activities through our Employee Advantages Scheme, along with numerous incentives for our teams to get involved in.
The Companies Act 2006 requires the directors of a company to act in the way that they consider, in good faith, would most likely promote the success of the company for the benefit of its shareholders and in doing so the Director must have regard, amongst other matters, to the:
The Directors have significant experience working in multi-site leisure & hospitality businesses and bring this experience to the day-to-day management of the group. With the support of the wider Management Team, all decisions are made with strong insights & forward-looking considerations to ensure benefit to the group and the wider stakeholders.
The following is an overview of how the directors have fulfilled their duties with each main stakeholder group:
Our Team Members
Our team is key to the success of our business and their health and wellbeing are primary considerations in all the decisions that we make.
On a day-to-day basis we provide induction, training, and ongoing development to build and develop skills, confidence, and career opportunities. We have a dedicated team that is focused on recruitment, learning and development and we use a range of on-line and at-work programmes. Our programmes range from apprenticeships to degree courses. The business and our team actively engage via the Workplace application enabling learning, celebrations, & communications, bringing our team across the country together.
Given the impact of Covid-19 we have also ensured the safety of our team during trading as well as the support of the team during lockdown and furlough. It has been a challenging period for our Teams and we both appreciate their support and their ongoing commitments to the business and our guests.
We truly believe in celebrating the differences in our workplace and are guided by our key message of diversity:
“At The Big Table there is a place for everyone. Take your place, share your experiences and let’s celebrate the differences we all bring every day”.
Our Guests
Our mission is “to give all our guests a great time every time”.
By understanding our guest, their experience, and their feedback we can continuously improve on the brand proposition and the value equation. We use Feed It Back and similar tools to measure and gauge guest scores by site as well as gathering qualitative insights to improve the guest experience. Our team actively engage with our guest base, and we consider our guest in the development of our menu offer, our environment and the wider ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) considerations that we know are important to them.
Our Suppliers
Our supplier base is wide, and our Procurement Team proactively work with our suppliers as partners to unlock opportunities and address challenges. The UK wide disruption to supply chain during 2021 required even closer collaboration with our supply partners, which in most cases has strengthened the relationships and provided new opportunities.
Our Shareholders
The Directors ensure that both investor & management shareholders are kept informed of key decisions and other material factors that impact the group. Board meetings of the parent company are regularly held across the year, with papers provided in advance for review and discussion. Refer to the Corporate Governance Report for further particulars.
The Community and the Environment
Our group has an important role in contributing to the wider community. The group proactively considers ESG with a practical, purpose-led plan that delivers tangible, quantifiable, and sustained outcomes. Our primary pillars are Planet, People & Product, and the ESG Committee representing a range of stakeholders across the business meets regularly across the year. “Planet” areas of focus include responsible sourcing, animal welfare, ethical trading, carbon footprint reduction, waste management and water reduction. “People” includes focus areas such as apprenticeships, diversity & inclusion, compliance with modern slavery act, charity, staff engagement & wider team and community interests. “Product” focus areas include provenance & authenticity, hygiene, calorie labelling, plant-based foods, and allergen management. This is an example of the wider ESG activities. ESG is important to our team, our guests and our shareholders and is a key consideration in our decision making. Key decisions during the period included acquisition of the sites from CDG, responding to the government restrictions and their impact on trading, the reopening of restaurants, our investment in the estate and decisions impacting our team both during lockdown and during the period of trading. The Directors made these decisions with appropriate insights and in consideration of forward-looking factors, for the benefit of the company, the group, and the wider stakeholders.
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