EG Group acquires fast food chain Leon Restaurants

EG Group said it has acquired major fast food chain Leon Restaurants for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2004, Leon has 42 company-owned restaurants, with a particularly strong presence in London, and 29 franchised sites at key strategic transport hubs across the UK and five other European markets, principally The Netherlands.

EG Group said the acquisition of Leon is complementary to its strategy of seeking significant growth in non-fuel and foodservice operations.

“Leon is a fantastic brand that we have long admired. As established entrepreneurs in the foodservice retail market ourselves, we have a huge admiration for the business that John and the Leon team have built over the years, and firmly believe that their culture and values closely align with our own,” Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa, co-founders and co-CEOs of EG Group, said.

EG Group already operates over 700 foodservice outlets in the UK and Ireland of which 310 operate from standalone premises. Despite the impact of COVID-19, EG Group’s foodservice business accounted for 46 per cent of the gross profit of the UK&I division in 2020.

The foodservice brand portfolio operated by EG Group includes third party brands such as Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, Greggs, Sbarro, Cinnabon and Subway.

“The acquisition of Leon presents EG Group with a fantastic opportunity to further develop the menu offer, the various concession formats including drive thrus, and will enable us to significantly build on the existing network by exploring opportunities across our own sites along with other strategic locations,” Issa brothers added.

EG Group added that it intends to invest in the Leon brand and broaden the current foodservice offer across the extensive global site network. With plans to open around 20 Leon sites per year from 2022, EG Group also sees significant potential for Leon’s non-restaurant products across its convenience retail proposition.

Founded by John Vincent, Henry Dimbleby and Chef Allegra McEvedy in 2004, Leon created the category of ‘naturally fast food’, changing people’s expectations of what was possible in quick service restaurants. The company has also made itself accessible to consumers at home and generates significant revenue from its branded cookbooks, own brand groceries and provision of home delivery ready meals.

“In some ways this is a sad day for me, to part company with the business I founded 17 years ago in Carnaby Street. But I have had the pleasure of getting to know Mohsin and Zuber across the last few years. They have been enthusiastic customers of Leon, going out of their way to eat here whenever they visit London. They are decent, hard-working business people who are committed to sustaining and further strengthening the values and culture that we have built at Leon, a business that has my Dad’s name above the door,” John Vincent, chief executive of Leon, said.

“Mohsin and Zuber will not just be superb custodians of the Leon brand, through EG Group they have the vision, investment appetite, foodservice expertise and network scale to take Leon to many more people and places. This is what Leon has always been built for and I am confident under the new ownership, the brand will flourish and have even greater appeal to a broader customer base, especially outside of London.”