- Deliveroo is to be acquired by US delivery firm DoorDash in a deal worth £2.9bn. Under the terms of the acquisition, each Deliveroo shareholder will be entitled to receive 180p in cash for each Deliveroo share held. It represents an approximately 44% premium on the closing price of 125p per Deliveroo share on 4 April 2025 (the last business day prior to DoorDash’s offer letter to Deliveroo in respect of the acquisition) The figure is a stark contrast to the 390p per share Deliveroo offered when it floated on the London Stock Exchange in March 2021, which valued the company at approximately £7.6bn.
- The operator behind Gino D’Acampo’s UK restaurants has been bought out of administration in a deal that will save 400 jobs across five venues. Upmarket Leisure, whose portfolio includes Luciano by Gino D’Acampo in London and Gino D’Acampo-branded restaurants in Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester, has been acquired by an unknown buyer in a deal for £5m.
- The UK has agreed a trade deal with India that will give Indian chefs greater access to hospitality roles in the UK. The deal will allow Indian chefs, as well as yoga teachers and musicians, to come and work in the UK via the contractual services suppliers route, which had previously been closed to India. The contractual services suppliers route is a pathway for workers and self employed people from overseas to enter the UK for between six and 12 months to provide services under a contract covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements. The worker must be sponsored by a UK-based business and meet other criteria like having relevant qualifications or experience.
- Paul Foster has closed his fine-dining restaurant Salt in Stratford-upon-Avon after eight years trading. Foster, whose CV includes stints at Restaurant Sat Bains and Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, launched Salt in 2017 after raising £100,000 via a Kickstarter campaign.
- The husband and wife team behind Michelin-starred Restaurant 22 in Cambridge will open a more casual sibling next month. Sam Carter and his wife Alex Olivier will open Margaret’s on Chesterton Road, just a few doors down from their flagship restaurant, on 9 June. It is described as ‘a relaxed, modern British bistro restaurant’ that will be a more relaxed setting to Restaurant 22 and which will serve a produce-led shared and set menu that ‘elevates locally sourced ingredients’.