Ed's Easy Diner restaurant chain acquired by 2 Sisters Food Group entrepreneur

Ed’s Easy Diner has been bought out of administration by the owner of Bernard Matthews. Ranjit Boparan, who owns the 2 Sisters Food Group, acquired the diner chain for around £7.5 million through his Giraffe chain of restaurants.

The deal means that 33 of Ed’s Diners will continue to trade under the brand, resulting in 700 jobs being saved. However, 26 restaurants will close with the loss of 379 jobs.

Mr Boparan, a food entrepreneur, has had a busy few months after acquiring turkey producer Bernard Matthews in a pre-pack deal and taking the group’s assets without taking on any liabilities.

Ed’s Diner started out in Soho in 1987 and has jumped from three restaurants to 59 since 2010. However, due to weak trading, it was put up for sale earlier this year. When the company went up for auction last year, it was expected to fetch more than £100 million but failed to sell. Analysts still expected the chain to sell for approximately £20 million, so the acquisition cost of £7.5 million is significantly less than predicted.

Administrators at KPMG said they would seek to protect the interests of those employees that had been made redundant, stating that while they were “pleased,” their priority is to “liaise with those employees who have been affected by redundancy and ensure that in addition to receiving all back pay owed”.

Giraffe’s managing director Tom Crowley said in a statement: “Ed’s Easy Diner has been an integral part of the UK casual dining scene for the past four decades and we are very excited about the business joining the group and the opportunities ahead.”

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