Fast food chain Leon is planning to close restaurants and cut jobs, less than two months after it was bought back from Asda by its co-founder John Vincent.
The chain said on Wednesday that it had appointed administrators to lead a restructuring programme, and it was considering how many of its 71 restaurants would need to shut. It did not say how many roles could be affected.
Vincent, who founded Leon in 2004 with Henry Dimbleby, who later became a government food tsar, and chef Allegra McEvedy, bought the business back in October, four years after he sold it to the billionaire Issa brothers’ EG Group petrol forecourts business in a £100m deal.
The chain has now hired advisers from Quantuma after applying for an administration order, and aims to put the business into administration as soon as possible, a process which will help it to manage debt payments as it attempts to secure its long-term future.
Since Vincent’s buyout, 10 outlets have already closed, including three overseas franchises, and the entrepreneur has announced plans to ditch Leon’s £25-a-month Roast Rewards scheme from January. Subscribers could claim up to five coffees a day and discounts on food.
He has also signed up staff to training in wing tsun, a martial art, to improve coffee-making times “while lowering heart rates”.
Asda, which the Issa brothers also invested in, bought Leon along with most of EG’s UK arm in 2023, but it has struggled under the ailing supermarket.
The fast food chain’s sales fell almost 4% to £62.5m in 2024 when it made a pre-tax loss of £8.38m, according to the latest accounts filed at Companies House.
Vincent said that, after a review, he had concluded that the company needed to downsize as the shift to working from home had reduced demand for takeaways.
He said: “If you look at the performance of Leon’s peers, you will see that everyone is facing challenges – companies are reporting significant losses due to working patterns and increasingly unsustainable taxes.
“Today for every pound we receive from the customer, around 36p goes to the government in tax, and about 2p ends up in the hands of the company. It’s why most players are reporting big losses.”
Vincent added that the “immediate priority” was to close the most unprofitable restaurants. The group has either found other brands to take on leases, or will be asking landlords to release the business from its commitments.
“We will rebuild Leon on its core values and I hope to be providing jobs to many more people once we have returned to profitability and can continue to grow again,” he said.
According to Vincent, “Asda had bigger fish to fry” over the past two years, and “Leon was always a business they didn’t feel fitted their strategy”.
He added that the company would look to find work for affected staff in other Leon restaurants, and had established a scheme for employees to apply for jobs at Pret a Manger.
Vincent bought back the chain shortly after co-founder Dimbleby told a grocery industry conference that Leon’s owners were set to “destroy the brand” by moving away from its original aim to sell “delicious food that is convenient and healthy” – and instead offering unhealthy meal deals, including high-calorie foods such as fries, chicken nuggets and cakes.
The company said at the time: “We’ll keep evolving, as we always have, but our mission hasn’t changed: to make fast food good food – delicious, affordable, and better for you.”
Vincent and Dimbleby, advocates of healthy eating, developed the concept of “naturally fast food” for Leon, and also created a school food plan for the government in 2013. They met at the management consultancy Bain & Company, where they bonded over a “dislike of premade sandwiches served from neon-lit chiller cabinets”, the company has said.
