The Restaurant Group buys Food & Fuel gastropubs for £15m
The 11-strong portfolio, which includes two Coco Momo wine bars, was bought by TRG’s pub division Brunning & Price.
It sees a further expansion of TRG’s 64-strong gastropub arm, following its purchase of four of Northcote Group’s Ribble Valley Inns sites in May.
Brunning & Price says the sale gives it the opportunity to establish a London footprint, with the possibility of converting some of TRG's restaurant sites.
TRG also operates high street brands including Chiquito, Frankie & Benny’s and Coast to Coast.
Karen Jones, executive chairman of Food & Fuel, says the sale came after 12 years of like-for-like growth across its pubs.
“After a series of approaches over the past few years, we finally decided that the future for Food & Fuel was best secured under the umbrella of a larger and well-regarded company that shares our values,” she says.
The sale was confirmed in TRG’s latest financial results. The company announced a decline in overall like-for-like sales of 3.7% for the 26 weeks to 1 July 2018.
It says its pubs and concessions businesses had “traded strongly”, with both businesses expected to deliver significant total sales growth this year.
TRG is looking to open 10-15 sites in 2019, predominantly pubs and concessions.
Jones and Food & Fuel co-founders Jo Cumming and Petr Myers will continue to operate and expand Frontier, their seven-strong joint pub venture with ei Group. They have also established a new vehicle, Pioneer Hospitality.
Food & Fuel was advised by Coffer Corporate Leisure.
