Anonymous buyer acquires Indian restaurant group V8 Gourmet

The buyer, thought to be a new venture with little experience in the hospitality sector, acquired the group’s trading units under the Bombay Bicycle Club, Vama and Tiffinbites brands on 22 June for an undisclosed sum.

Along with 17 restaurants, the buyer has also acquired V8 Gourmet’s catering arm Khana by Vama,and events arm Silk Events after the company received a winding up order from HM Revenue & Customs for falling behind on debt repayments.

Its last accounts filed with Companies House showed a pre-tax loss of £2.6m in 2009, against sales of £10.4m.

Gary Rupping from administrator Re10, said V8 Gourmet’s demise was essentially down to current market conditions.

“V8 Gourmet lost a substantial amount of money essentially because they couldn’t get the trade in the front door,” he said. “You can’t sustain losing £5m over the course of two years but the final nail in the coffin was from the bankers, they had to step in.”

Nimish Patel, joint administrator, said: "From the time Re10 was appointed as administrator on 13 June, our prime concern was to secure the future of the business, including its 264 members of staff, which we thankfully did, just 10 days later.”

It is thought V8 Gourmet’s new owner will invest in the group’s current operating structure to trade the group as usual.

While it is thought former managing director Arjun Varma and brother Andy have stepped away from the V8 Gourmet business to pursue new business ventures, it’s is still unconfirmed whether they will still be involved in the running of high-end restaurant Vama.

It's expected that the anonymous buyer will reveal themselves in due course.