The plan includes closing around 20 high street outlets that the firm considers loss-making. On the BBC Big Boss Interview podcast, John Vincent, Leon’s co-founder, detailed the pivot towards travel locations, the Mirror reports.
He noted that a 2% profit margin at an airport “is worth the same as a 6% on the high street”. Mr Vincent continued: “You might be doing two or three times the revenue in that airport than you might in a high street location.”
Mr Vincent revealed to the BBC that Leon has been losing £10million each year, citing upcoming business rates reforms and escalating running costs as primary drivers behind the restaurant shutdowns. Business rate relief will be abolished completely from April 2026, having already been slashed from 75% to 40%.
Leon was established in 2004 by Mr Vincent, Henry Dimbleby and Allegra McEvedy. The chain presently runs 44 company-owned locations plus 22 franchised branches.
The group has enlisted advisers from Quantuma to oversee the administration process. Leon and Quantuma will hold discussions with landlords to outline different possibilities for the business’s future path.
This move comes after Mr Vincent bought back the company from its previous owner, Asda. Leon had been snapped up by Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa’s EG Group in 2021, before being transferred to their Asda portfolio in 2023.
Speaking about the circumstances, Mr Vincent said: “In the last two years, Asda had bigger fish to fry, and Leon was always a business they didn’t feel fitted their strategy.”
He went on: “If you look at the performance of Leon’s peers, you will see that everyone is facing challenges – companies are reporting significant losses due to working patterns and increasingly unsustainable taxes.”
Leon has acknowledged that job cuts will be unavoidable as a result of the restaurant closures.
The firm has put in place a support scheme for those impacted by the redundancies. Mr Vincent said: “In the first instance, we will look to find people roles in other Leon restaurants.
“Where that is not possible, for example if there is no Leon restaurant within commuting distance, people will receive redundancy payments.” He added: “In addition we have established a programme with Pret A Manger where affected Leon employees can apply for jobs via a dedicated channel.”
