2 Sisters boss buys restaurant chain from Tesco

Britain’s biggest retailer agreed to sell Giraffe last week to Boparan Restaurants Holdings for an undisclosed sum. The sale included 54 standalone restaurants, comprising 12 franchise sites and three restaurants within Tesco stores.

54 standalone restaurants​

Giraffe will join Boparan’s other restaurants, fish and chip brand Harry Ramsden and the exclusive London restaurant Cinnamon Club.

Commenting on the sale, Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said: “As we stabilise the business in the UK, we continue to focus on where we can best serve the needs of our customers, while ensuring our business remains sustainable for the long-term.​

“Giraffe is a much loved brand, and while casual dining remains an important part of the shopping trip for many of our customers, we will continue to meet these needs through our Tesco Cafés and other providers.”​

‘Important part of the shopping trip’​

Lewis thanked the Giraffe workforce for their hard work in serving customers and looked forward “to seeing it develop in the future”.​

Alongside the Giraffe sale, Tesco also revealed the proposed sale of its 95.5% controlling stake in the Kipa business in Turkey to Migros.

The disposal, which is subject to local regulatory approvals, was predicted to result in estimated cash proceeds of around £30M, contributing to a reduction of around £110M in total indebtedness.

Meanwhile, the restaurant acquisition followed Singh’s purchase of the Grove Farms turkey business based in Monaghan, Ireland.

The acquisition was understood to be a private deal​ and would not be part of the 2 Sisters Food Group.

The financial details of the proposed deal were not disclosed. The deal was subject to clearance from Competition Authority in Ireland.