The Real Greek restaurant chain has collapsed into administration, jeopardising all of its restaurants and hundreds of jobs as soaring cost pressures continue to batter the hospitality industry.
Administration and Financial Woes
Japanese restaurant group Toridoll, which owns The Real Greek's parent company Fulham Shore, has formally moved to appoint administrators. The company partly blames higher inflation and rising workforce costs for the chain's troubles. Documents reveal that The Real Greek incurred losses exceeding £1.4 million in the year ending March 2025, with total liabilities reaching £13,352,000.
Toridoll acknowledged that The Real Greek has suffered disproportionately from poor trading conditions, citing 'high levels of inflation in the UK, driven by rising energy and food prices together with an increase in labour costs resulting from rises in the minimum wage.'
Potential Rescue Deal
Reports suggest that a rescue deal may be on the horizon, with Cote owner Karali Group reportedly interested in acquiring some of the chain's 28 restaurants. However, Karali is thought to be targeting only 10 to 15 sites, which could lead to the closure of approximately half the estate.
Last month, Fulham Shore announced a review of future options for The Real Greek, simultaneously launching a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring process for sister brand Franco Manca. That process will see 16 venues closed and 225 jobs lost.
Impact of Economic Pressures
Toridoll stated that economic hardship has hit The Real Greek much harder than Franco Manca. The group said: 'In recent years, high levels of inflation in the UK, driven by rising energy and food prices together with an increase in labour costs resulting from rises in the minimum wage, have created a more challenging operating environment for the hospitality industry than initially anticipated.'
'The deterioration in the economic environment has had a more significant impact on the Greek restaurant brand The Real Greek than on the Franco Manca business,' Toridoll added.
Fulham Shore was acquired by Toridoll, with backing from investment firm Capdesia, in 2023 for £93.4 million. Marcel Khan, chief executive of Fulham Shore, previously commented on the industry's struggle with rising costs.
Khan said: 'Even restaurant businesses that are doing all the right things from a customer and operational perspective are not immune to widely publicised pressures impacting the hospitality industry. This includes significant increases in national insurance and the national living wage in recent history, as well as a lack of business rates relief for the restaurant sector and disproportionately high VAT in the UK compared with Europe.'
'As a result of these external cost pressures, we have to make sure that we are putting our business on a sustainable footing for long-term growth and development. This is why we have taken the difficult decision to undertake a CVA for Franco Manca, which will see a minority proportion of our restaurants closing where they are no longer sustainable in this cost environment. We are deeply saddened by the closures of a minority proportion of our restaurants, and will support our affected team members throughout this process in every way that we can.'
