The Restaurant Group

The company was founded by Matthew Brown from Chatteris in 1987 as City Centre Restaurants plc with the objective of owning and managing the Garfunkel's Restaurant chain.^[4] In the late 1980s, it bought the Mexican chain Chi Chi's and renamed it Chiquito.^[4]

In 1995, four years after it was reported to have 151 restaurants,^[5] the firm opened its first Frankie & Benny's in Leicester.^[4] Then, a month before making an unsuccessful bid for Ask Central plc,^[6] it changed its name to The Restaurant Group plc in January 2004.^[7]

In 2006, TRG bought back the Deep Pan Pizza chain, which it had previously sold to the management.^[8] In 2018, two years after announcing the closure of 33 units due to falling sales and profits,^[9] the firm purchased noodle chain Wagamama for £559m, to diversify its portfolio.^[10]

In May 2018, the Brunning & Price division purchased the Ribble Valley Inns, a collection of restaurant and real ale pubs in the north of England, from the Northcote Group for an undisclosed sum.^[11] In August, the division purchased the 11-strong portfolio of Food & Fuel Pubs, which included two Coco Momo wine bars, for £15.4 million.^[12]

On 3 June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, The Restaurant Group told employees a "large number" of its outlets would not reopen after lockdown;^[13] up to 120 restaurants, mainly Frankie & Benny's, were set to close permanently,^[14] with the loss of between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs.^[15] On 8 June, TRG said it was in discussions with its landlords about potential restructuring options,^[15] and three days later announced it had entered a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) and planned to cut 125 sites.^[16]

In October 2020 the business suffered a significant shareholder revolt over the proposed pay package of its chief executive, Andy Hornby. After a year involving over 4,000 job losses and approximately 230 restaurant closures more than a third of investors opposed the package.^[17]

In 2023, The Restaurant Group sold most of its portfolio except for Wagamama, Brunning & Price and Barburrito to The Big Table Group for £7.5 million.^[18][19] In October, the board of the company announced that it intended to recommend to shareholders that they accept a £506 million takeover offer from US buyout group Apollo Global Management (APG).^[20]

In December 2023, it was announced that Apollo had completed its purchase of the company for £701 million.^[21]

As of December 2019, The Restaurant Group plc operated over 400 restaurants and pub restaurants throughout the UK. It also operates a multi‐brand Concessions business which trades principally in UK airports. In addition, the Wagamama business had 6 restaurants in the US and over 50 franchise restaurants operating across a number of territories.^[2]

• List of companies based in London