The Vital Ingredient brand and majority of the Vital Ingredient business has been acquired out of administration via a pre-pack sale to FCFM, the privately-owned investment firm, MCA has learnt.
Rob Harding and Dan Butters of Deloitte, the business advisory firm, were appointed administrators to the 20-strong, London-based chain of made to order salad and hot food bars at the beginning of yesterday (4 January), with the majority of the business, 13 sites, immediately sold to FCFM. The process has saved c175 jobs.
The remaining seven sites, Baker Street, Berwick Street, Garlick Hill, High Holborn, Houndsditch, Margaret Street and Middlesex Street, were close with immediate effect with the associated redundancies of staff.
FCFM is set to back the existing Vital Ingredient management team led by managing director Paolo Peretti and chief financial officer Kate Collis.
MCA revealed last November, that then Vital had appointed advisers from Deloitte to review its future funding options after receiving a number of approaches.
Harding, Joint Administrator and Partner in Deloitte’s Restructuring Services practice, said: “Whilst this well-known brand has expanded over recent years, driven by the trend for healthier eating, it has unfortunately experienced the same trading challenges as every operator in the sector, namely rising property and labour costs combined with food inflation. The sale will enable a restructured business to be taken forward, retaining the majority of the company’s workforce, and we wish FCFM and the management team every success in doing so.”
LDC backed the management buyout of Vital in April 2016, as part of a £12m funding package that would support the expansion of the business.
Vital opened a new flagship site in Tower 42 in the City in the final quarter of last year.
