The intense financial pressure facing Britain’s casual dining sector will be underlined this week when Gusto, the Italian restaurant chain, falls into administration.
Sky News has learnt that Interpath Advisory is preparing a pre-pack insolvency of Gusto, which trades from 13 sites.
Sources said that a vehicle set up by Cherry Equity Partners, the owner of Latin American restaurant concept Cabana, was the likely buyer.
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It is expected to take over most of Gusto’s sites although some job losses are likely.
A deal could be announced in the coming days, according to insiders.
The collapse of Gusto, which is backed by private equity investor Palatine, follows a string of increasingly heated warnings from hospitality executives about the impact of tax rises on the sector.
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Kate Nicholls, who chairs UK Hospitality, said this month that the industry faced a jobs bloodbath amid growing financial pressure on operators.
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This week, Sky News reported that the restaurant industry veteran David Page, a former boss of PizzaExpress, was raising £10m to take advantage of cut-price acquisition opportunities in casual dining.
Mr Page is planning to become executive chairman of London-listed Tasty, which owns Wildwood and dim t, and rename it Bow Street Group.
A placing of shares in the company is likely to be completed this week.
Interpath declined to comment on the Gusto process.
