Bakery chain to open 30 stores a year

EG Group, headed by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who alongside TDR Capital also own Asda, has revealed its expansion plans for bakery chain Cooplands.

The group, which operates food and petrol station sites throughout the UK, US and Australia says it will create over 32,000 jobs globally over the next five years through a sustained investment in its foodservice business.

This will be led in the UK by the roll out of Yorkshire bakery chain Cooplands which it acquired last year alongside fast food brand LEON across its forecourt network, new-to-industry (NTI) sites, and EG foodservice concessions at Asda locations.

Unveiling a new growth strategy for the Scarborough-based bakery chain – which is the UK’s second biggest bakery chain – the group says it will open 30 outlets a year through to 2026, including cafés inside NTIs and convenience stores on EG forecourt sites.

The group is also committed to rolling out at least 50 LEON restaurants a year through to 2026, primarily in the UK, alongside 10 further openings in the Netherlands, ahead of a wider European expansion.

And it will create a large number of new jobs by accelerating openings for its existing third-party brand partners, notably Starbucks and KFC, including drive-thrus on the group’s UK forecourts and on Asda carparks ‒ with these foodservice outlets operated by EG and its colleagues.

Zuber and Mohsin Issa

The group plans to add about 22,700 UK jobs between January 2022 and December 2026, including new roles, both highly skilled and entry level, at its head office in Blackburn, where it currently employs about 900 workers.

Approximately 9,700 new jobs will also come from organic growth in EG’s nine additional markets: Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Australia and the USA over the same five-year period.

The announcement, which was accompanied by news that the business has  increased average hourly pay for its UK staff aged 18 and over to £10.05, follows publication of EG Group’s unaudited FY21 results in March. The group reported a 16.3% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $1,451bn, primarily driven by a stand-out performance in foodservice and the further easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

The Issa brothers, co-founders and co-CEOs of EG Group, said: “As EG continues to go from strength to strength, we will be creating a large number of new jobs over the coming years, particularly in our successful foodservice business ‒ which remains a significant growth opportunity globally.

“We are proud to be a business founded in Britain that invests in job creation worldwide, while focusing heavily on the training and development of colleagues.

“EG has a strong track record of providing colleagues with long term opportunities to progress their career at all levels ‒ and we are passionate about continuing this.”

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