The Restaurant Group

Last updated
The Restaurant Group plc
Company type Private
Industry Restaurant
Founded1987;37 years ago (1987)
HeadquartersLondon, England
Key people
Ken Hanna (Chairman)
Andy Hornby (CEO)
Kirk Davis (CFO)
RevenueDecrease2.svg £459.8 million (2020) [1]
Decrease2.svg £(49.7) million (2020) [1]
Decrease2.svg £(119.9) million (2020) [1]
Owner
Number of employees
14,000 (2021) [2]
Website www.trgplc.com

The Restaurant Group plc is a British chain of restaurants and public houses. Their principal trading brands are Wagamama and Barburrito. The Group also operates Pub restaurants and a Concessions business which trades principally at UK airports.

Contents

History

The company was founded by Matthew Brown from Chatteris in 1987 as City Centre Restaurants plc with the objective of owning and managing the Garfunkel's Restaurant chain. [3] In the late 1980s, it bought the Mexican foodchain Chi Chi's and renamed it Chiquito. [3]

In 1995, four years after it was reported to have 151 restaurants, [4] the firm opened its first Frankie & Benny's in Leicester. [3] Then, a month before making an unsuccessful bid for Ask Central plc, [5] it changed its name to The Restaurant Group plc in January 2004. [6]

In 2006, TRG bought back the Deep Pan Pizza chain, which it had previously sold to the management. [7] In 2018, two years after announcing the closure of 33 units due to falling sales and profits, [8] the firm purchased noodle chain Wagamama for £559m, to diversify its portfolio. [9]

In May 2018, the Brunning & Price division purchased the Ribble Valley Inns, a collection of restaurant and real ale pubs in the north of England, from the Northcote Group for an undisclosed sum; [10] . In August, the division purchased the 11-strong portfolio of Food & Fuel Pubs, which included two Coco Momo wine bars, for £15.4 million. [11]

On 3 June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, The Restaurant Group told employees a "large number" of its outlets would not reopen after lockdown; [12] up to 120 restaurants, mainly Frankie & Benny's, were set to close permanently, [13] with the loss of between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs. [14] On 8 June, TRG said it was in discussions with its landlords about potential restructuring options, [14] and three days later announced it had entered a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) and planned to cut 125 sites. [15]

In October 2020 the business suffered a significant shareholder revolt over the proposed pay package of its chief executive, Andy Hornby. After a year involving over 4,000 job losses and approximately 230 restaurant closures more than a third of investors opposed the package. [16]

In 2023, The Restaurant Group sold most of its portfolio except for Wagamama, Brunning & Price and Barburrito to The Big Table Group for £7.5 million. [17] [18] In October, the board of the company announced that it intended to recommend to shareholders that they accept a £506 million takeover offer from US buyout group Apollo Global Management (APG). [19]

Wagamama in Market Street, Oxford Wagamama on Market Street - geograph.org.uk - 4242252.jpg
Wagamama in Market Street, Oxford

In December 2023, it was announced that Apollo had completed its purchase of the company for £701 million. [20]

Operations

As of December 2019, The Restaurant Group plc operated over 400 restaurants and pub restaurants throughout the UK. It also operates a multi‐brand Concessions business which trades principally in UK airports. In addition, the Wagamama business had 6 restaurants in the US and over 50 franchise restaurants operating across a number of territories. [1]

Subsidiaries

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Results 2020". Restaurant Group. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "Our people". The Restaurant Group. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "Catering & Hospitality News". Caterer Search. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Whatley, Garrod (1991-08-21). "Restaurant chains' profits are eaten away". The Press and Journal. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. ↑ "PizzaExpress trumps Restaurant Group with £225m offer for Ask". The Caterer. 13 February 2004. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "FE Investegate -CityCentreRestaurant Announcements - CityCentreRestaurant: Result of EGM & Name Change". investegate.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "TRG buys back Deep Pan Pizza". www.pizzamarketplace.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Kollewe, Julia (26 August 2016). "Frankie & Benny's owner closes 33 restaurants". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Wagamama noodle chain sold to Frankie & Benny owner". The Guardian. 30 October 2018. Archived from the original on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  10. ↑ Witts, Sophie (23 May 2018). "Northcote Group sells four Ribble Valley Inns sites". Big Hospitality. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "Company Archive". Brunning & Price Ltd. August 2018. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  12. ↑ Jones, Lora (2 June 2020). "Frankie & Benny's owner: Some sites won't reopen". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  13. ↑ Butler, Sarah (3 June 2020). "Frankie & Benny's owner to permanently close 120 restaurants". Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  14. 1 2 McAllister, James (8 June 2020). "TRG in talks with landlords over 'potential restructuring options' for leisure estate". Big Hospitality. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  15. ↑ McAllister, James (11 June 2020). "TRG eyes 125 closures as CVA announced". Big Hospitality. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  16. ↑ "Shareholders revolt over Restaurant Group's CEO pay plans". Financial Times. 8 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  17. ↑ O'Boyle, Daniel (2023-09-11). "The Restaurant Group pays £7.5m to get rid of ailing Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  18. ↑ "The Big Table Group | Coast to Coast - The Big Table Group". www.bigtablegroup.com. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  19. ↑ Makortoff, Kalyeena (2023-10-12). "The Restaurant Group to go private after accepting £506m takeover bid". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  20. ↑ "Apollo Global Management completes takeover of The Restaurant Group". Verdict Food Service. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
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