Restaurant group Bistrot Pierre has been sold in a pre-pack deal to investment vehicle Cherry Equity Partners in a deal that will see 158 jobs lost and the closure of eight restaurants.
The sale will see ten Bistrot Pierre sites remain open safeguarding 394 jobs.
The venues set to close are in Mere Green, Newport, Kidderminster, Southport, Preston, Leamington Spa, Birmingham and Coventry.
Nick White, chief executive of Bistrot Pierre, will remain in place. He said: “We are delighted to have secured the future of the business and, with the backing of Cherry Equity Partners, now have a strong platform in place for future growth. At the same time, we are tremendously sad to see eight of our sites close.
“The impending increases in national minimum wage and national insurance contributions will add hundreds of thousands of pounds to our costs, making our smaller locations simply unviable. We’d like to express our sincere thanks to our teams that have worked so hard to serve the fantastic customers that have visited these locations over the years.”
Bistrot Pierre was last sold out of pre-pack administration in 2020 and has struggled to return to profitability since the pandemic.
In its latest accounts, made up to the end of June 2023, the group outlined that inflation (then running at around 10%) had influenced its decision to close its Newport and Altrincham venues.
During the year a “radical review” of the company was undertaken with major redundancies made.
Turnover fell by £4m to £24.4m during the year as the company slumped to a £2m loss. At the time, the company employed 669 people – down 120 on the previous year, Bistrot Pierre celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024, having opened its first restaurant in Nottingham in 1994 and currently has 18 outlets across the UK.
Ed Standring, chief executive of Cherry Equity Partners, said: “Bistrot Pierre is a well-loved Bistrot, bar and boutique rooms business with a great heritage, and we’re looking forward to working with Nick and the team to invest and grow the business.”