UK fast food chain slams Labour after crashing into administration – ‘totally killing us’ | UK | News
The chairman of a major UK fast food chain, which recently went into administration, accused Labor of “totally killing the restaurant industry”. Leon co-founder John Vincent said “everyone knows restaurants are done for” as he slammed the Government and warned of major problems facing the industry.
This comes at a time when businesses are grappling with issues such as rising wages, National Insurance contributions and business rates. Trade body UKHospitality warned earlier this year that its analysis showed more than 960 restaurants in the UK would close by 2026. Mr. Vincent returned to Leon as CEO last fall, and the chain has since closed 22 restaurants as part of a restructuring.
Criticizing Labor tax raids on the restaurant industry, Mr Vincent said: Times Radio: “Why should we allow ourselves to destroy an entire industry and then say, no problem, you can try getting into a different business?
“It’s not the market that’s doing this. It’s the government. It’s not the consumer who doesn’t want to eat in restaurants. It’s the government that’s completely killing the restaurant industry.”
Leon appointed administrators in December and Mr Vincent warned that “the high street is dead”, adding that this was a view widely held by restaurateurs in the UK.
He gave Jo Coburn a worrying warning about the industry in The Times at One: “I talked to the guy who owns one of the biggest – I can’t say this because it’s confidential – but one of Leon’s biggest peers, one of his competitors. He said the restaurants are going out. Everybody knows the restaurants are going out.”
He said people were “calling me every day in tears” saying their business was going bad in the industry.
Leon opened his first restaurant in London in 2004.
The website reads: “Why can’t fast food be good food? Our mission is to prove that it can be possible by providing natural fast food that not only tastes good, but is good for you, too.”
A government spokesman said: “We have a sound economic plan – reshaping business rates to support accommodation, with a £4.3bn support package to limit bill rises, as well as capping corporation tax at 25 per cent, cutting red tape and taking action on the cost of living to stimulate the sector.
“Increasing the national minimum wage boosts wages for more than 200,000 young workers and employer NICs [national insurance contributions] It is lower for those hiring under the age of 21.”
