Brava Hospitality acquires House Cafés. Kerali acquires Côte. Cherry Equity Partners acquires Bistro Pierre before creating House of Cherry alongside Gusto and Maison Pierre. Luke Johnson’s Risk Capital Partners acquires Wahaca. The recent run of hospitality deals might suggest M&A is simply back, but I think we’re seeing something much more important.
On their own, these are interesting deals but together, they tell a much bigger story. We’re watching the ownership cycle in UK hospitality start moving again. Between 2010 and 2015, the restaurant sector enjoyed an extraordinary period of entrepreneurial growth. Founders built businesses that challenged established operators, created new dining occasions and transformed high streets across the country.
Back then there was a fairly natural ownership cycle. Founders built great businesses, grew them for a few years and often passed the baton to new owners with fresh capital and different expertise to take them to the next stage.
With hindsight, parts of that cycle probably moved too quickly. Some businesses changed hands before they had properly matured and, in some cases, growth became more important than the brand itself.
Then the baton stopped being passed.
By 2016, rents had peaked in many locations and business rates were catching up. Brexit created uncertainty. Covid put survival ahead of growth. Inflation squeezed margins, labour shortages reshaped operating models and higher interest rates made acquisitions harder to finance.
Founders didn’t keep hold of their businesses because that was always the plan. They kept hold of them because there wasn’t much alternative. They adapted, survived and, in many cases, built stronger businesses because of it.
A generation of founder-led businesses is reaching the point where ownership might naturally change, just as a new generation of buyers is looking for proven brands rather than concepts
That’s why so many of Britain’s best restaurant brands are still under founder ownership 10 or 15 years later. Not because they never intended to sell, but because the market never really gave them the opportunity.
That is now beginning to change. For some founders, staying independent will remain the right decision. For others, the next stage of growth will need different skills, different capital and a different ownership structure. That’s not a criticism of founder-led businesses. It’s simply what happens when businesses mature. Growing from one site to ten is very different from growing from ten to fifty.
The buyers have changed as well. This isn’t just private equity returning. It’s experienced operators and long-term investors building hospitality groups.
Trispan recognised that several years ago. Cherry Equity Partners is doing it through House of Cherry. Brava Hospitality is building its own portfolio. Risk Capital Partners has backed Wahaca because it believes an established business with an experienced management team can go much further.
Different buyers. Different strategies. The same opportunity. Valuations are more realistic than they were a few years ago. That doesn’t mean good businesses are cheap. It means buyers can still invest behind them once the deal is done.
The really interesting point is that these two trends are arriving at exactly the same time. A generation of founder-led businesses is reaching the point where ownership might naturally change, just as a new generation of buyers is looking for proven brands rather than concepts.
That alignment doesn’t happen very often. For founders, selling increasingly means finding the right partner rather than walking away. For buyers, it’s an opportunity to acquire businesses that have already proved themselves. For the wider industry, it should mean stronger businesses with the capital, expertise and infrastructure to keep growing.
We’re not simply seeing more deals, we’re watching the UK’s hospitality ownership cycle restart. The founders built one of the most exciting generations of restaurant businesses this country has seen.
The question now is who takes them through the next chapter?
Ted Schama is founder of One Voice Hospitality.