Rival snaps up The Restaurant Group’s Leisure Division

TRG will pay a contribution of £7.5m to the Big Table Group for the sale.

The Big Table Group, the operator of Las Iguanas, Bella Italia, Banana Tree, Café Rouge and Amalfi,  has announced the acquisition of The Restaurant Group’s Leisure Division.

As part of the transaction, TRG will pay a cash contribution of £7.5m to the Big Table Group.  The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of October. Additionally, whilst the transaction is to be completed, TRG will provide certain customary services at cost to Big Table Group for a limited period of time to ensure an orderly operational transition for the 75 trading sites currently within the Leisure business. This transition is expected to be completed by 31st March 2024.

The Leisure business comprises 75 trading sites and associated restaurant and management team employees. The division includes the brands Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquito, Firejacks, Coast To Coast, Filling Station and EST.

This comes as TRG announced that Ken Hanna, the Group's chairman will be stepping down due to personal reasons.

The group said in its regulatory filing that it will now initiate a comprehensive search process to identify a new Chairman and will update the market as and when appropriate.

The acquisition now takes The Big Table Group to operate over 220 restaurants across the UK.