Paladin, the boutique private equity group specialising in branded consumer goods, has confirmed it is investing in Byron. Byron, the UK market leader in the premium hamburger category, was sold by the Gondola Group in November 2013 to Hutton Collins in a £100m transaction in which Paladin will invest £5m.
As part of the investment, Gerry Ford, Founder and Chairman of Caffè Nero and a Managing Partner at Paladin, will join Byron’s board as a Non-Executive Director. Ford serves on numerous boards in the consumer goods space and has more than 20 years’ experience helping smaller growth businesses. Paladin has investments in a variety of other food and beverage businesses including Caffè Nero, Rex Restaurants and Dominos Pizza Poland.
Complementing the management team’s capability and vision
Eric Bellquist, Partner at Hutton Collins said: “We are delighted to be investing in such a pioneering brand and to have such a knowledgeable entrepreneur and industry leader investing alongside us. Dr. Ford’s experience in multi site retail roll outs will complement the management team’s capability and vision as well as Hutton Collins’s long experience of generating attractive investment returns in the casual dining and leisure sectors. Byron has a clear road map for growth, a talented team in place to deliver it and we welcome Dr. Ford to the board.”
Invaluable experience
Tom Byng, CEO of Byron said: As we embark on the next stage of growth, we’re delighted to welcome Gerry Ford to the Board. His experience of building and advising high growth consumer businesses will prove invaluable as we continue on our quest to turn the UK into a nation of ‘proper hamburger’ lovers .
Real opportunity to develop
Gerry Ford, Managing Partner at Paladin said: “Byron is the market leader in the high growth category of premium hamburgers. I believe Byron has a real opportunity to develop much further in the UK as this category opens up throughout the country. I am very happy to be assisting Tom and his team and working alongside Hutton Collins on this investment.”
Byron was founded in 2007 by Tom Byng with a mission to deliver the perfect hamburger to the UK market. Byron has since grown to 36 sites and remained true to its original concept of delivering a simple menu of classic hamburgers. All of the Byron restaurants are individually tailored to each particular property, locality and customer audience, and all retain Byron’s strong brand identity. Primarily focused on London, Byron has now expanded beyond the capital into a number of key regional cities.
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