Hestia Hospitality plc (“Hestia”), a new acquisition and investment vehicle focused on premium dining and hospitality businesses, is excited to announce it has secured £50m of funding to target acquisitions and consolidation opportunities in the UK hospitality sector, with a focus on premium and high-end experiences. Hestia recently completed the acquisitions of sustainable restaurant brand Native by Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davies, as well as three other investments which will be announced shortly.
Led by Andrew Fishwick, who has a wealth of experience leading businesses including hospitality and arts organisations - Hestia is on a mission to become the UK’s leading hospitality group focused on premium and high-end experiences, targeting annual revenues of more than £100m within three years.
Hestia’s highly experienced management and advisor team has opened and operated over 100 sites within the Hospitality and Leisure sector and has built businesses collectively worth more than £5bn. It includes Paul Helmsley, former Group Finance Director of The Innovation Group who serves as CFO; Simon Esner, co-founder of WSH Ltd – previously one of the UK’s largest hospitality companies with brands including Benugo, Searcy’s, and BaxterStorey - who is Non-Executive Chair; and Non-Executive Director Steve Smith, who spent nearly three decades at Morgan Stanley including advising on scores of transactions.
Hestia’s Special Advisors include Justin King CBE – former Sainsbury’s CEO, current Non-Executive Director of M&S and ITSU, and Chairman of Dexters plc; and Richard Wassell, founder of twentyretail and former Chair of the Restaurant Property Advisors Society.
Hestia is backed by a collection of family offices and high-net-worth individuals and has secured an initial £50m to acquire premium, multi-site restaurant brands which it considers to have significant growth potential. The Group plans to make further acquisitions, as well as unlock organic growth opportunities, as part of its strategy grow to £100m in annual revenues in three years.
To date, Hestia has completed three initial transactions. This includes the acquisition of Native, an iconic closed-loop farmhouse restaurant concept by Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davies that is pioneering sustainability and ethical dining. Native, which formerly operated at Brown’s, will open its new site at the Michelin-starred Pensons at Netherwood in May.
Hestia’s management team will work with each brand to empower the concepts to fulfil their growth potential. Leveraging learnings from across its brands, Hestia will also enable the sharing of best practices as they collectively contribute to the Group’s vision of creating world-class consumer experiences.
Andrew Fishwick, CEO of Hestia, said: “This funding round is a resounding endorsement of our thesis that there has never been a better time to invest in our sector. There are exceptional businesses with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams behind them that need the support to grow to their full potential. Hestia is designed to be the antithesis of Private Equity; it is designed to nurture and facilitate sustainable growth and development, whilst maintaining excellence and keeping the customer experience at the front and centre of everything we do.”