Grocery giant Tesco has acquired restaurant chain Giraffe for £48.6 million as it seeks to develop a number of larger stores into retail destinations, it has been announced today.
A leading restaurant chain offering healthy, seasonal food, Giraffe has 48 units across the UK including franchises at UK and Dubai airports.
Husband and wife team Russel and Juliette Joffe founded the company along with Andrew Jacobs and Russel will maintain his position as Managing Director of the brand.
Russel said of the deal: “We‘re passionate about great service, wonderful hospitality and serving good, healthy food at great value.
“This move will allow us to introduce Giraffe to a wider audience, presents great opportunities for growth and for the team to be involved in an exciting stage in our brand‘s development. It will be very much business as usual at Giraffe.”
Tesco has purchased a 100 per cent stake in the award-winning chain, which comes just days after the supermarket announced the launch of Britain‘s first a new price comparison coupon in a bid to boost its offering and compete with rivals in the sector.
Kevin Grace, Group Commercial Director at Tesco, highlighted the significance of the move.
“We invest in businesses that add value for our customers online or offline; as we‘ve done with Harris + Hoole, Euphorium, blinkbox, and now Giraffe,” Grace said.
“We have the opportunity to develop some of the space in our larger stores to create retail destinations that offer customers even more choice.
“Giraffe is hugely popular with a wide range of ages and particularly families – we think our customers will love it.”
