Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Fast food |
Founded | 2004 [1] |
Founders | John Vincent Henry Dimbleby Allegra McEvedy [2] |
Headquarters | London |
Number of locations | 61 (April 2021) [3] |
Area served | United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, United States, India |
Key people | John Vincent, Chief Executive Officer |
Owner | Asda |
Website | leon |
Leon (branded as LEON.) is a fast food chain based in the United Kingdom, established in 2004. The company had around 70 outlets when it was bought by EG Group in 2021. Since October 2023, most of EG Group's former UK and Ireland business, including Leon, has been owned by the supermarket chain Asda.
Leon was founded by John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby with chef Allegra McEvedy. [4] [5] [6] [7] The business was named after Vincent's father, [4] [5] [8] and opened its first outlet in Carnaby Street in 2004. [9] [10] Six months after opening, Leon was named the "Best New Restaurant in Great Britain" at The Observer Food Monthly Awards. [8]
In 2008, Leon became a founding member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association. [11]
In March 2009, McEvedy gave up her role at Leon to focus on writing and television work, but remains a shareholder. In 2014, John Vincent took over from Henry Dimbleby as CEO, and Dimbleby then left the board in 2017. He also remains a shareholder.
By 2015 Leon had 57 restaurants. [12] In January 2015, HMSHost operated six Leon locations in airports and railway stations in southern England, and Leon announced an expansion of its relationship with HMSHost in 2018, including a franchise agreement in airports and railway stations across Europe and the Middle East. [13] [14] [15] The company hoped to reach an international clientele through these outlets, and help create demand ahead of further overseas openings. [16] [17]
In June 2016 the first Leon outside England opened in Amsterdam. [18] Other overseas openings followed, including restaurants at Utrecht, Oslo, Gran Canaria, Dublin and Leon's first restaurant in the United States, in Washington, D.C. [19] The latter's style was described as "fast-casual Mediterranean" in the local press. [20]
The chain was named in the 2017 The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list. [21] Leon was backed by Active Private Equity and, in May 2017, Spice Private Equity became a major investor to support further global expansion plans.[ citation needed ]
By 2018, the company had 61 sites. [22] In the first quarter of 2019, 53% of the chain's food sales were plant-based or vegetarian. [22]
In March 2020, Leon set up the "Feed NHS" initiative to deliver 5,600 free meals a day to National Health Service critical care staff at London hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. [23] Other restaurant chains became involved, including Franco Manca, Tortilla, Tossed, and Wasabi. [24] A JustGiving page was created to raise funds. [25]
Leon USA Inc. filed for liquidation in February 2021, citing low customer numbers because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It had three outlets in Washington and a fourth nearby in Fairfax, Virginia. [20]
In April 2021, the company was sold for a reported £100 million to the Issa brothers' EG Group, which also operates fast food franchises and had recently agreed to buy a majority stake in the Asda supermarket business. [3] At that time, Leon had 71 outlets, of which 42 were operated by the company; the other 29 were franchises at transport hubs, in the UK and five other European countries. [26] In an October 2023 restructuring, EG Group sold most of its UK operations – including Leon – to Asda. [27]
Leon has published several cookbooks, and developed a cookware and tableware line with retailer John Lewis. [28] [29]
In the United Kingdom, Leon implements equal pay, for both age and gender. The company pays the over 25s rate of the minimum wage to all hourly paid employees, including those aged below 25. [22]
Taco Bell IP Holder, LLC, doing business as Taco Bell, is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, including tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, novelty, and speciality items, and a variety of "value menu" items. As of 2018, Taco Bell serves over two billion customers each year, at 7,072 restaurants, more than 93 percent of which are owned and operated by independent franchisees and licensees.
Asda Stores Limited, trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket chain. Its headquarters are in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI Group. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place.
Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1960 in North Carolina.
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J D Wetherspoon plc is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford. It operates the sub-brand of Lloyds No.1 bars, and 56 Wetherspoon hotels. Wetherspoon is known for converting unconventional premises, such as former cinemas and banks, into pubs. The company is publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Chick-fil-A, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain and the largest chain specializing in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in College Park, Georgia, Chick-fil-A operates 3,059 restaurants across 48 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The company also has operations in Canada, and previously had restaurants in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The restaurant has a breakfast menu, and a lunch and dinner menu. The chain also provides catering services.
Caffè Nero is a coffeehouse company headquartered in London, England. Established in 1997 by Gerry Ford, Caffè Nero runs more than 1,000 coffee houses in eleven countries: the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey, the UAE, Oman and the United States. In 2009, Caffè Nero bought and opened its own coffee roastery in Battersea, south London, which supplies the coffee to all its coffee houses worldwide.
Sbarro, LLC is an American fast food restaurant that specializes in New York–style pizza sold by the slice and other Italian-American cuisine. In 2011, the company was ranked 15th in foreign sales among U.S.-based quick-serve and fast-casual companies by QSR Magazine. In 2008, Sbarro was rated the No. 1 Quick Service Restaurant in the Italian segment by Entrepreneur magazine. However, diners and critics have criticized the quality of the food, with some suggesting a link between food quality and the company's two bankruptcies. Sbarro has over 600 locations in 28 countries. Sbarro stores are located in shopping malls, airports, service areas, and college campuses, as well as in The Pentagon, American naval bases, and casinos.
Parmo, or Teesside Parmesan, is a dish originating in Middlesbrough, England, and a popular item of take-away food in the Teesside area. It consists of a breaded cutlet of chicken or pork topped with a white béchamel sauce and cheese, usually cheddar.
Cooplands is the second largest bakery chain in the UK with over 160 outlets and 12 cafes located primarily across Yorkshire, County Durham and Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. Cooplands produces takeaway food chiefly for the lunch-time trade, specialising in sandwiches, pasties, desserts, cakes, and bread. It competes with other local cafés and takeaway outlets, and national and international high street food chains and franchises.
Allegra Sarah Bazzett McEvedy MBE is an English chef, broadcaster and writer.
TDR Capital LLP is a British private equity firm headquartered in London, England.
Ed's Easy Diner is a casual restaurant chain based in the United Kingdom selling 1950s American diner style items.
Wasabi is a fast food restaurant chain based in the United Kingdom, focused on Japanese, East Asian-inspired fast food, especially sushi and bento, and operating primarily in London, England, with further branches elsewhere in England as of 2022. Wasabi was founded in London in 2003 by Dong Hyun Kim, a South Korean entrepreneur. In November 2019, Henry Birts joined as CEO.
Henry Richard Melville Dimbleby is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018. He is a son of BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby and of Josceline Dimbleby.
EG Group is a British operator of filling stations, convenience stores and food service providers across Europe, the United States and Australia. It was founded in Blackburn in 2001 by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, initially as Euro Garages.
John Vincent MBE is a British entrepreneur who is the chief executive and co-founder of fast food chain Leon Restaurants. Vincent is also known for his work in developing the 2013 School Food Plan, for which he was appointed an MBE; for chairing the Council for Sustainable Business; and for co-authoring seven LEON cookbooks.
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Mohsin Issa CBE and Zuber Issa CBE are British-Indian billionaire brothers and businessmen who founded Euro Garages in 2001, a Blackburn-based chain of petrol filling stations and convenience stores that operates in Europe, the United States and Australia. In 2020, as part of a consortium with TDR Capital, the brothers became majority stakeholders in the British supermarket chain Asda. EG's annual sales across ten countries were valued at €20 billion in 2020.