Announcing ‘plans to exit administration following its restructuring and transformation’, Leon has also revealed that it has received a £2.5m injection of funds from co-founder and owner John Vincent, who returned to the struggling business last year.
The company’s administrators, BTG Begbies Traynor and Quantuma, are today publishing details of a planned CVA, leading to a creditors’ vote on 27 May.
All of the 23 restaurants that have closed are company owned. Leon is left with 43 restaurants, of which 23 are franchised and 20 are company owned.
Leon says that its team members who were not relocated to other Leon restaurants were given the opportunity to apply for jobs at Pret A Manger.
Vincent says that since he bought Leon back from Asda in October last year, his team have been working on a renaissance across the whole business.
He also highlights that some of the management team who ‘propelled Leon to its original success’ have returned, including Chris Burford as CFO, Nick Scovell as Operations director.
The next twelve months will see improvement of existing dishes, the return of popular classics and the introduction of new dishes intended to ‘reassert Leon’s leadership in naturally fast food’.
“I would like to thank everyone inside and outside Leon who has helped over the last few months as we have undergone a painful but necessary restructuring to secure the company’s future,” Vincent says.
“We have now reached the point where the company can exit administration and continue its rejuvenation as a smaller but more sustainable company devoted to serving wonderful food to its customers. There is a lot of affection for LEON, and I am committed to working on behalf of our guests, teams and suppliers to make the company what people want it to be.”