Former Whitbread bosses mastermind takeover of Beefeater restaurants
Former senior managers at Whitbread have advised on a deal to buy back nearly 60 restaurants from the group, after it wound up its Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains last month.
Common Table Group, a British hospitality firm, has agreed to buy 57 restaurant sites and one Premier Inn hotel from the FTSE 100 hotels giant.
The buyers were supported by Rove360, a hospitality consultancy whose team includes former Whitbread senior managers.
The move will create 700 new jobs and was agreed for an undisclosed sum. The restaurants – which include former Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Cookhouse sites – will reopen their doors from next month.
Common Table Group, which was founded by coffee entrepreneur Thomas Anderson, said it will invest in refurbishing these restaurants and developing “exciting” new menus.
Anderson said: “Our priority is to get the sites back open and trading as soon as possible. We’re building an entrepreneurial business with a local feel, where our teams are empowered to make decisions and shape each venue around the people and communities it serves.
“We’re excited about what we can create together and look forward to bringing new energy and ideas to our guests.”
The former Whitbread restaurants will serve barista coffee provided by its sister group, Rodeo, which operates 15 sites in London and Manchester.
Rove360 previously worked with Whitbread on a cost-cutting programme, helping the group deliver £150m in labour cost savings.
Whitbread faces investor pushback
In April, the Premier Inn owner set out drastic plans to slash £2bn in costs by shutting all of its non-hotel restaurants and cutting nearly 4,000 jobs.
Whitbread said its turnaround plan, which forced the closure of the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurant chains, was necessary to tackle the “unexpected” impact of Labour’s business rates hikes.
“In light of significant cost increases in the form of business rates and National Insurance, as well as the implied market discount to our inherent value, we’ve looked hard at the options open to us,” said chief executive Dominic Paul.
Whitbread has faced pushback from one of its biggest shareholders in recent months. Corvex Asset Management, which owns more than six per cent of the firm, initially called for the group to put itself up for sale, attacking its “chronic misallocation of capital”.
Since last month, Corvex has been pushing for a seat on Whitbread’s board, demanding a “rigorous, fact-based review” of the firm.