Knutsford based Gusto Italian has confirmed that six of their restaurants will be closed, including the Alderley Edge one, resulting in around 190 redundancies.
Cherry Equity Partners is to acquire the majority of Gusto, the transaction will be undertaken via a pre-pack administration process, ensuring seven flagship Gusto restaurants will continue to trade, safeguarding over 300 jobs.
We have received confirmation that the following six retaurants will close: Alderley Edge, Cookridge, Edinburgh, Heswall, Leeds, Newcastle.
The remaining seven restaurants will be Liverpool (Albert Dock), Birmingham, Cheadle, Knutsford, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford.
Paul Moran, CEO of Gusto Restaurants, said: "This investment marks an important step forward for Gusto, ensuring the future of the business and putting in place a strong and stable platform upon which we can start to grow the business again."
Ed Standring, CEO and operating partner of Cherry Equity Partners, said: "This investment marks our third acquisition in six months, and underscores our deep commitment to the UK hospitality sector. Cherry is an operator-led sector specialist. This is an industry we're incredibly passionate about and one we believe is full of opportunity.
Jamie Barber, Chairman and founding partner of Cherry Equity Partners, added: "Gusto is a well-loved brand with a great heritage, and we're looking forward to working with Paul and the team to invest and grow the business."
The transaction is being led by Will Wright and Rick Harrison from Interpath who are expected to be appointed joint administrators to Gusto Restaurants Limited.
Will Wright, UK CEO of Interpath, said: "Although these continue to be challenging times for hospitality operators, we are pleased to advise on this transaction which will safeguard the future of a fantastic brand which has been serving customers across cities and suburbs for over twenty years."
The process will see six restaurants close, resulting in circa 190 redundancies. The majority of these are smaller sites in suburban locations which have become economically unviable due to continuing cost headwinds affecting the sector.
Paul Moran said: "We are profoundly sorry to see six of our restaurants close and are tremendously grateful for the support of our staff and our loyal customers at these locations over the years."
The company operated Italian restaurants in 13 locations across the UK, including Alderley Edge, Cheadle Hulme, Knutsford, Liverpool, Heswall and Manchester city centre.
Gusto Italian was founded in 2005 by Jeremy Roberts and the late Tim Bacon, from Living Ventures Group. In 2014, the company gained private equity backing from Palatine.
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