Former senior managers at Whitbread have led a deal to acquire nearly 60 restaurants from the group. Common Table Group, a British hospitality firm, has agreed to buy 57 restaurant sites and one Premier Inn hotel from the FTSE 100 hotels giant.
The move is expected to create 700 new jobs. The restaurants, which include former Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, and Cookhouse sites, are scheduled to reopen their doors from next month.
Common Table Group, founded by coffee entrepreneur Thomas Anderson, plans to invest in refurbishing these restaurants and developing new menus. Anderson stated that the priority is to get the sites back open and trading as soon as possible.
Whitbread had previously announced plans in April to cut £2bn in costs by shutting all of its non-hotel restaurants and reducing nearly 4,000 jobs. The company cited the impact of business rates hikes as a reason for the closures.