Closures possible at Giraffe and Ed’s Diner as owner mulls options
CLOSURES COULD be on the menu for casual dining chains Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner as the owner of both brands kicks off a review into the business.
Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), the dining arm of ‘Chicken King’ Ranjit Singh Boparan’s business empire, is understood to have drafted in advisers at KPMG to explore a range of options.
Although the process is at an early stage, options are thought to include site disposals or even a potential sale of the Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner brands.
Giraffe currently has 44 branches, including restaurants in Leeds, Sheffield, Castleford and York, and five abroad (three in Dublin, one in Malaga, Spain, and one in Abu Dhabi, UAE).
Ed’s Easy Diner has 24 restaurants, including one in York.
BRG owns a number of other household names, including fishand-chip restaurant Harry Ramsden’s, which originated in Guiseley, and the upmarket Cinnamon Collection.
It is also the master franchisee
Food tycoon Ranjit Singh Boparan, owner of Giraffe and Ed’s Diner.
for US brand Slim Chickens, which first opened in the UK last year.
Mr Boparan, 52, also owns 2 Sisters Food Group, turkey producer Bernard Matthews, and Fox’s Biscuits, among others.
However, the BRG review is understood to be limited to Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner.
KPMG declined to comment. BRG did not respond to requests for comment.
BRG acquired Giraffe from Tesco in 2016, and later combined it with Ed’s Easy Diner, which it had bought in a pre-pack administration that same year.
The two brands form a combined entity, which in the most recently available accounts had annual turnover of £67.1m.
In the same period, underlying losses came to £1.6m.
The review comes at a time of significant distress on the high street, which has perhaps been most keenly felt by the restaurant trade.
According to insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, 34 per cent of businesses in the UK’s restaurant sector are at greaterthan-average risk of insolvency; the figure for Yorkshire is slightly lower, at 32.8 per cent.
Last year, several casual dining brands overhauled their businesses, with some closing sites, amid rising costs and tougher competition in the sector.
Prezzo, Jamie’s Italian, Byron, Carluccio’s, Gaucho and Gourmet Burger Kitchen all closed restaurants.