Leon's Co-Founder John Vincent Seeks Redemption with Revival Plan
John Vincent, Leon's co-founder who sold the fast-food chain four years ago, has bought it back for an estimated £30m-£50m. The move marks a new chapter in the company's history as Vincent seeks to revive its fortunes and establish a "founder's mentality" that prioritizes quality and customer experience.
Vincent's turnaround plan focuses on renegotiating leases, shrinking the group, and closing underperforming outlets. He aims to concentrate on Leon's owned stores – currently 29 in London – and franchisees will operate locations in motorway service stations across the UK. Over the next four years, Vincent plans to expand to 100 UK outlets, mostly in London.
To achieve this goal, Vincent is revamping Leon's menu, introducing new dishes, and improving quality with better smoked salmon and thicker slices of halloumi. He also wants to train staff in Wing Tsun martial arts to boost coffee-making efficiency.
Leon's struggle began after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, leading to a significant decline in sales and profits. The company was sold to Asda in 2021, which further exacerbated its problems due to high debts, falling sales, rising costs, and intense competition.
However, Vincent suggests there are no hard feelings towards Asda. "I can't blame Asda," he says. "The problem was I didn't imbue enough understanding in the company of how to sustain itself without me."
Leon's revival plan has been met with skepticism by some, but Vincent remains optimistic. He believes that by adopting a "founder's mentality" and focusing on quality, customer experience, and innovation, Leon can regain its former glory.
As Vincent puts it, "Every Leon should be magical." With his new turnaround plan in place, he aims to make this vision a reality.
John Vincent, Leon's co-founder who sold the fast-food chain four years ago, has bought it back for an estimated £30m-£50m. The move marks a new chapter in the company's history as Vincent seeks to revive its fortunes and establish a "founder's mentality" that prioritizes quality and customer experience.
Vincent's turnaround plan focuses on renegotiating leases, shrinking the group, and closing underperforming outlets. He aims to concentrate on Leon's owned stores – currently 29 in London – and franchisees will operate locations in motorway service stations across the UK. Over the next four years, Vincent plans to expand to 100 UK outlets, mostly in London.
To achieve this goal, Vincent is revamping Leon's menu, introducing new dishes, and improving quality with better smoked salmon and thicker slices of halloumi. He also wants to train staff in Wing Tsun martial arts to boost coffee-making efficiency.
Leon's struggle began after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, leading to a significant decline in sales and profits. The company was sold to Asda in 2021, which further exacerbated its problems due to high debts, falling sales, rising costs, and intense competition.
However, Vincent suggests there are no hard feelings towards Asda. "I can't blame Asda," he says. "The problem was I didn't imbue enough understanding in the company of how to sustain itself without me."
Leon's revival plan has been met with skepticism by some, but Vincent remains optimistic. He believes that by adopting a "founder's mentality" and focusing on quality, customer experience, and innovation, Leon can regain its former glory.
As Vincent puts it, "Every Leon should be magical." With his new turnaround plan in place, he aims to make this vision a reality.
John Vincent buys back Leon for a pretty penny and suddenly gets all optimistic about reviving the brand. I mean, what if it's just a clever PR stunt to distract us from something else going on? Like, maybe he wants to control the food scene in London or something? And those Wing Tsun martial arts courses? That sounds like some kind of weird corporate team-building exercise to me... 
! John Vincent's got a solid plan to revive Leon's fortunes and I think it's about time they focus on quality and customer experience 
. Those franchisee motorway service stations could be a game-changer 
. The idea of training staff in Wing Tsun martial arts to boost coffee-making efficiency? Genius! 
It's gonna be interesting to see how this plays out, especially with the £30m-£50m price tag 
. Fingers crossed it all comes together and Leon's is magical again 
. Focusing on quality, customer experience, and innovation sounds like a solid strategy 
. I mean, who doesn't want magical Leons? 
It's about time they revamped the menu too - new dishes and better ingredients would definitely get me coming back! 
The Wing Tsun martial arts training for staff is also a cool touch 
. Can't wait to see how it all plays out over the next 4 years 
. Guess we'll just have to keep an eye on this one 
. do we get stuck in the past or do we use it as an opportunity to learn and grow? john vincent could've easily just complained about asda or blamed everyone else for leon's struggles... but instead, he's taking responsibility and trying to turn things around 
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. that takes a lot of courage and humility, you know? so yeah, let's all take a page out of john vincent's book and be more mindful of our mistakes 
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. I'm not sure how skeptical he'll really be about his own success, but it's understandable he wants to get back on track after four years of decline 
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But training staff in Wing Tsun martial arts is a bit weird... are they really going to boost coffee-making efficiency? 
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John Vincent thinks he can just swoop back in and turn Leon's fortunes around with some fancy business plans and martial arts training? Please, I've seen more convincing comebacks from a tired Sunday roast 
. Renegotiating leases and closing underperforming outlets sounds like a good starting point, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Smoked salmon and thicker slices of halloumi are gonna make or break this place? 
i'm kinda hoping for the best with this revival plan tho 
btw, wing tsun martial arts being used to train staff? that's actually kinda genius 
. The idea of revamping the menu and training staff in Wing Tsun martial arts (um, what?) might just do the trick... if they can get those quality control issues sorted out it could be interesting to see how things play out 
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without changing the underlying business model or addressing the debts they owe asda? i hope vincent has a solid plan in place because this could get ugly if it all falls apart again
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but seriously, if it boosts coffee-making efficiency, i'm all for it! 