San Carlos restaurant buys collapsed Leeds rival
BIRMINGHAM-based restaurant chain San Carlos has bought one of Yorkshire’s best known restaurants, The Flying Pizza.
The long-established North Leeds restaurant saw administrators appointed on Friday and joint administrator Charles Escott of PKF completed a sale to San Carlo group last night saving 29 jobs.
The restaurant, owned for the last decade by Martin Pickles, the former manager of Langan’s Brasserie in London, was believed to have debts of up to £250,000 and its bank, Lloyds Banking Group, appointed administrators.
Mr Pickles said he was hugely disappointed at losing the restaurant and blamed the recession and the weeks of snow last year which “killed the business”.
“There was at least six weeks of snow last year and it killed the business. Instead of taking £30,000 a week we were taking £10,000 a week and it hit the cashflow. The bank called in their loan and took away our overdraft facility,” he said.
Mr Escott, partner at accountants and business advisers in Leeds, who was appointed joint administrator over the two companies through which the restaurant trades said: “We are delighted to have been able to save the restaurant and the 29 employee jobs that were linked to it. We are pleased to confirm that following a busy weekend of negotiations with various parties, we have concluded a sale to San Carlo’s, giving them a second Leeds restaurant.”
He said that there were a number of offers for the business. San Carlo, which has restaurants in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and which opened its first restaurant on South Parade in Leeds late last year, is led by founder Carlo di Stefano and his son Marcello.
Mr Escott added: “We must say thank you to all the staff of the restaurant who worked throughout Friday and over the weekend with enthusiasm, as well as to our advisors who also worked tirelessly; John Alderton and Caroline Castle at Squire Sanders Hammonds and Steve Jones at Fox Lloyd Jones.
“I am sure San Carlo’s offer a great future for the restaurant and its clientele, and we wish them every success in the future” Escott concluded.
