At a glance
- McWin and TriSpan have acquired a majority stake in Flat Iron.
- The acquisition aims to support Flat Iron's growth, including further UK expansion and international market entries.
- Charlie Carroll founded Flat Iron in 2012 and it now operates 18 restaurants, primarily in London.
- Tom Byng, Flat Iron CEO since 2021, will continue to lead the steakhouse group under its new ownership.
The deal will see Piper, the specialist investor that backed Flat Iron in 2017, exit the business with McWin and TriSpan teaming up through their respective McWin Funds and TriSpan Rising Stars Programme to ‘support the company’s growth ambitions’ going forwards.
Those ambitions include further openings in the UK as well as moves into international markets.
Flat Iron was founded by Charlie Carroll in 2012 as a pop-up above a pub in Shoreditch and now operates an 18-strong restaurant estate that’s primarily based in London but includes regional outposts in Cambridge, Leeds and Manchester.
Tom Byng, who became CEO of Flat Iron in 2021, will continue to lead the group following the acquisition.
“Our success at Flat Iron is a team effort from the pot wash to the board room, and we are pleased to welcome McWin and TriSpan to the Flat Iron family,” says Byng.
“Their deep experience and knowledge of the sector are second to none and will be invaluable as we continue our mission to serve ‘remarkable steak’ to more locations in London, across the UK and abroad.”
News of the deal follows reports back in May that McWin and TriSpan were in ‘exclusive talks’ to acquire Flat Iron after the steakhouse group appointed advisers in October last year to review its strategic options after delivering record sales.
This acquisition marks the first investment from McWin’s newly launched Foodservice Fund, which is dedicated to lower to mid-cap European foodservice companies that ‘have the team, the concept and the opportunity to scale’.
“The leadership, the truly compelling customer proposition and the opportunity to expand the growth story are exactly what we are looking for in this dynamic sector,” says Harry Goss, partner and head of foodservice at McWin, which already counts Sticks’n’Sushi, Big Mamma and Gail’s in its hospitality portfolio.
“We believe that Flat Iron has the right to become a multi-national British champion.
“We are delighted to partner with our friends at TriSpan on this opportunity as the first investment from the new McWin Foodservice Fund.”
TriSpan’s Rising Stars Programme focuses on investing in and scaling restaurant and hospitality businesses with emerging brands that are ‘poised for significant growth’, and has already invested in brands such as Pho, Rosa’s Thai and Mowgli.
“Having invested in ten growth restaurant businesses in the USA and Europe over the past eight years, we are very excited to partner and back Flat Iron’s outstanding team,” says Robin Rowland OBE, operating partner at TriSpan.
“The UK dining out market is a vibrant growing sector of £110+ billion turnover that continues to innovate and Flat Iron is a clear winning brand offering outstanding value that truly delivers to a wide group of guests throughout the week.”
Houlihan Lokey advised Flat Iron on the transaction.