Leon announces 24% sales rise

Healthy fast food chain, Leon has announced a 24% sales rise up to £95m for the year ending 31 December 2018.

The group’s end of year results represented a fifth year of unbroken revenue growth, which more than quadrupled in size in that period. Leon said it opened nine restaurants during the period creating 270 jobs.

International sales at the chain now make up 10.6% of all business at Leon, with the restaurant saying its first USA, Norway, Ireland and Spain branches are set to open soon.

Co-founder and CEO John Vincent said of the year’s performance: “2018 was a strong year for Leon. Against a tough backdrop for our industry, our fantastic team showed that when you have a great menu, excellent service and welcoming locations, people will come.

“We have all seen the struggles being faced by the casual dining industry, with cautious consumers choosing carefully at the same time as businesses contend with increased costs, and so we take nothing for granted. However, seeing the business deliver 18 consecutive months of like-for-like growth whilst opening a further nine restaurants shows we’re responding to the challenge in the right way.”

He added: “It is encouraging to see that what we set out to do as a business when we started in 2004 – to deliver Naturally Fast Food that is good for you while being good to the planet – is proving popular with guests not only in the UK where we started, but now also overseas. We took some big steps in 2018 to take the Leon concept to new markets including the US and Ireland, and this expansion will pick up further pace in the year ahead.”