The fast food chain appointed administrators last month, along with a major restructure of its business
09:17, 16 Jan 2026Updated 09:22, 16 Jan 2026
Leon has announced plans to open more restaurants in service stations, airports and train stations - but after closing around 20 high street sites.
The fast food chain appointed administrators last month, along with a major restructure of its business. This includes plans to shut around 20 high street sites, which the company says are no longer profitable.
In a new interview with on the BBC Big Boss Interview podcast, John Vincent, co-founder of Leon, revealed plans to focus on transport hubs instead.
He said a 2% profit margin at an airport "is worth the same as a 6% on the high street". Mr Vincent added: "You might be doing two or three times the revenue in that airport than you might in a high street location."
Mr Vincent told the BBC that Leon has been losing £10million a year and blamed the upcoming changes to the way business rates are calculated, along with overall cost increases for closing restaurants.
Business rate discounts will also be removed completely from April 2026, having already been scaled back from 75% to 40%.
Leon was founded in 2004 by Mr Vincent, Henry Dimbleby and Allegra McEvedy. The chain runs 44 company-owned restaurants and has 22 franchised restaurants.
The group has hired advisers from Quantuma to handle its administration process. Leon and Quantuma will discuss their plans with landlords and lay out options for the future of the business.
It comes after Mr Vincent bought the business back from previous owner Asda. Leon was sold to Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa’s business EG Group in 2021 before becoming a part of their Asda business in 2023.
Mr Vincent said: “In the last two years, Asda had bigger fish to fry, and Leon was always a business they didn’t feel fitted their strategy.
“If you look at the performance of Leon’s peers, you will see that everyone is facing challenges – companies are reporting significant losses due to working patterns and increasingly unsustainable taxes.”
Leon said it will cut jobs as a result of its restaurant closures. The business has created a programme to support anyone made redundant from store closures.
Mr Vincent added: “In the first instance, we will look to find people roles in other Leon restaurants. Where that is not possible, for example if there is no Leon restaurant within commuting distance, people will receive redundancy payments.
“In addition we have established a programme with Pret A Manger where affected Leon employees can apply for jobs via a dedicated channel.”