Lunch Garden sold to London investment fund

Acquired 71 restaurants

After some 5 years, the Belgian restaurant chain Lunch Garden gets a new owner after rumours that the company had been put up for sale, rumours that date back to late last year. During an extraordinary general meeting, the company revealed that H2 Equity Partners, Kebek Private Equity and Solferino Holding sold the company to Bregal Freshstream for an undisclosed sum.

H2 and the other shareholders invested a lot into Lunch Garden’s modernization over the past 5 years, with more than 50 million euro into the store updates and several new additions. They also struck a deal with Total for its roadside restaurants, boosted the company’s marketing efforts and drafted a new collective labour agreement. All these changes have prepared Lunch Garden for the future.

“Freshstream seeks to build on the foundations the previous owners have laid over the past few years”, Bregal Freshstream Chief Investment Officer Rayhan Davis said. “We have the ambition to continue the company’s growth, alongside all of Lunch Garden’s staff.”

Current team stays on

CEO Annick Van Overstraeten and the entire management will stay on and nothing will change for the employees. Bregal Freshstream was launched in September 2015 and has a 600 million euro value, coming from the Bregal Investments family fund.

Lunch Garden, founded in 1966, currently has 71 restaurants and some 1,300 employees. In 2014, the Belgian chain of self-service restaurants had a 136 million euro turnover.