Tootsies Restaurants placed into administration while Giraffe capitalise on sites

12th October 2009, 4:16pm

Tootsies and Dexters restaurants have today been placed into administration after its owner Clapham House Group said it would no longer support the outlets financially.

All other parts of The Clapham House Group PLC, namely the Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Real Greek businesses, are unaffected by this action and will continue to trade as normal.

However, as this news was announced, The Giraffe Restaurant Group said it has bought 11 sites from Clapham House Group, as the brand looks to expand. 

Russel Joffe, managing director and founder of Giraffe, confirmed the move saying: "With the support of our investors Risk Capital Partners and 3i, our strategy is to continue growing the brand nationally year on year. This acquisition of some great sites allows us to accelerate the roll out of Giraffe, and takes Group revenues to in excess of £35 million."

The sites are located in London, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Weybridge and Portsmouth and the acquisition brings the Giraffe group up to 36 restaurants plus five airport franchises, of which three are at London's Heathrow. It's estimated the sale has saved 25 full time and over 250 part time jobs. 

In a statement Clapham House Group said maintaining financial backing and support had proven difficult during the economic downturn.

The group said: "Given the current economic outlook and the prolonged downturn in trading and profitability at the Tootsies business, the Clapham House Board believes that there is little prospect of the Tootsies business as a whole generating a profit in the near future."

Related Articles:

• 17 Dec 2009 - Clapham House Group posts mixed bag of financial results
• 27 Mar 2009 - Restaurant executives gear up for industry summit

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