LEON Ireland, the Naturally Fast Food restaurant chain, has secured an investment of €3.6m in an initial funding round and is primed to raise a final €1m in equity funding before year end. These funds are being used to deliver the company’s roll out plan for the Irish market.

When launching their first Irish restaurant in May 2019, located in Dublin’s Temple Bar, LEON Ireland announced their plans for 20 restaurants nationwide and the creation of 600 jobs in Irish hospitality.

As the business plan for LEON Ireland progresses and with the early success of the company’s Temple Bar restaurant, LEON Ireland is now looking to rapidly expand its presence in the Irish market. 

Several new store announcements will be made this year and management are now ramping up their search for more suitable locations in Dublin and other large population centres across the country.

LEON Ireland has brought together a group of strategic investors for the Irish rollout including Michael McElligott, CEO of Tetrarch Capital, Charlie Scanlan, CEO of Jump Juice, Ireland’s largest Juice and Smoothie operator and is a non-executive director at LEON Ireland, and a number of high net worth investors from Ireland and the UK.

Commenting on the investment, Managing Director of LEON Ireland, Stuart Fitzgerald said, "We have massive plans for LEON in Ireland and having a great group of really seasoned, networked, value-additive investors and board members is extremely important to us in terms of delivering these plans."

He added, "With our Dundrum restaurant due to open in March of next year and two other high-profile city centre locations soon to be announced, our pipeline is being quickly delivered. We remain on the hunt for prominent, premium, high-footfall locations. We’re focussed on Dublin in the short term, but we’ll soon be bringing Naturally Fast Food to locations throughout the country."

Source: www.businessworld.ie