Bistrot Pierre bought out of administration – almost 160 jobs lost

Bistrot Pierre, the Nottingham-headquartered chain of restaurants, 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 venues closing 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.”

In its latest accounts, made up to the end of June 2023, Bistrot Pierre outlined that inflation (then running at around 10%) had forced its hand when closing 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.

The company had been backed by private equity firm Livingbridge and was sold out of administration in 2020.