Private equity firm Alcuin buys UK arm of Krispy Kreme
DOUGHNUT retailer Krispy Kreme’s UK arm has been acquired in a £25m management buy-out secured by private equity funding.
Alcuin Capital Partners has provided the funding, which is intended to support the company’s growth plans.
Krispy Kreme entered the UK market in October 2003 in London. It has since opened 45 stores across the UK, including a standalone coffee bar at Piccadilly Plaza in Manchester and kiosks at Liverpool One and at Selfridges’ Manchester outlet. In January this year, the company opened its first UK factory at Heywood Distribution Park employing 40 people, which has the capacity to turn out around 3,000 doughnuts an hour.
The company also operates more than 350 cabinets with retail partners, including Tesco.
Over the next four years, it is aiming to roll out the Krispy Kreme name to more areas of the UK, with the intention of opening 80 outlets by 2015.
Alcuin, which provides development capital for profitable, growing companies, has taken a majority stake in Krispy Kreme and appointed partner Mark Storey to the board as chairman to work alongside the existing joint managing directors, Richard Cheshire and Rob Hunt.
The MBO will result in a significantly increased equity stake in the business for the existing management team, and has enabled the company’s original investors, Cheshire and Kent LLC, to realise a return on their investment after launching Krispy Kreme in the UK eight years ago.
Richard Cheshire, joint managing director of Krispy Kreme UK, said: “We are delighted to bring Alcuin into the Krispy Kreme family in the UK, and look forward to working with Mark Storey and the team going forward.
“Krispy Kreme has expanded rapidly in the UK since we launched in 2003, and our current business plan aims to build on this growth. With the support of Alcuin, we plan to achieve this by focusing on our core business of making premium quality doughnuts and coffee, geographically expanding our retail and wholesale operations and providing outstanding career paths.”
