MBO for gourmet food and wine retailer

A well-known York city centre gourmet food and wine retailer and tourist destination has been acquired in a management buy out.

Love Cheese on Gillygate has been bought by its manager Jordan Thomson in a deal advised by a partner in Harrowells’ corporate team, Matthew Rowley.

The acquisition includes taking over the lease, acquiring the Love Cheese stock and goodwill.

The retailer has four other staff and a six figure annual turnover.

A Covid pandemic-enforced career change led Thomson to join Love Cheese in 2020 and he was soon helping to manage the shop after being asked by then owners, Harry and Phoebe Baines, to rebrand the café into the Speakcheesey.

He said: “Harry and Phoebe owned Love Cheese for around eight years and did a fantastic job in developing the businesses into a popular part of York’s retail, hospitality and tourism offer. We are very popular with local people and with tourists from all over the world who visit us to try our renowned triple cheese toastie. A visitor from Brazil came in for one last week.

“Matthew Rowley was very helpful and approachable. He guided me through the whole process.”

As well as being a shop and café, Love Cheese sells around 100 tiered cheese wedding cakes a year – an area Thomson wants to expand – and has 7,000 UK-wide subscribers who receive regular cheese and wine boxes delivered to their door as well as supporting around 1,000 cheese and wine tasting events for businesses throughout the UK.

Thomson says he may take on more staff for the business festive period and plans to update parts of Love Cheese’s product offer in 2023.

Rowley says: “Love Cheese has built up an important reputation with a national customer case which crosses York’s retail, tourism and hospitality sectors. It has been a pleasure to support Jordan’s management buy out and I’m sure he will do a great job in developing the business.”