Expansion for Hickory’s following £6m investment

CHESTER restaurant chain Hickory’s Smokehouse has sold a £6m stake to London private equity firm Piper.

The American-style smokehouse and BBQ restaurant chain, was founded in 2010 by Neil McDonnell and currently operates from three sites in Chester, West Kirby and Rhos-on-Sea in North Wales.

The group will use the cash to add a further 10 restaurants in the next three to five years.

Mr McDonnell said: “We are delighted to have selected Piper as our partner. I know we will benefit from their extensive knowledge and experience of the sector. I am confident that together we will continue to build Hickory’s into a uniquely valuable business.”

Piper was advised by a team at accountancy group BDO led by transaction services partner Chris Heatlie.

He said: “Deals like this highlight the appetite from investors for scalable and innovative restaurant concepts. Piper’s investment will help drive Hickory’s ambitious expansion plans and, with a great management team in place, I’m confident we’ll be hearing a lot more about them in the North West and beyond over the coming years.”

Lawyers Bond Dickinson provided legal advice to Piper. Baker Tilly and law firm Jolliffe & Co advised the management team at Hickory’s.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close