The news has been filled with stories of the demise of previously well-loved brands closing large numbers of sites or going out of business altogether.
Fickle consumer tastes, increased competition from rival brands (boosted by a tidal wave of PE money) and the decline of the high street have all put pressure on revenues and margins leading us to look for a company with a fresh approach towards hospitality.
Since the launch of the first Pergola on a car park rooftop in Shepherd’s Bush in 2016, Charlie Gardiner and Ed Devenport have created a series of venues across London which bridge the gap between large scale dining concepts, local pubs and perfect party locations. Rather than taking on the food operations themselves, they built venues where hot new brands could be rotated in and out, ensuring that they stayed ahead of the latest food trends. This constant reinvention is boosted by the venues themselves which are transformed twice a year – for the summer and winter seasons – and often feature rooftop locations or open-air locations, allowing them to attract crowds year-round.
This ability to mitigate many of the challenges facing hospitality and to benefit from the rise of the experience economy made Incipio one of the most exciting investment opportunities we have come across to date. We felt that we could provide an additional layer of support to help them scale the business – guiding the team as they developed their central team and procedures, as well as shaping the business for an exit ahead of the next phase of growth.
We invested in the company in late 2017, when it had two venues in west London. Since then we have invested almost £5m into the business, to help drive its ambitious expansion plan. Today, the company has 6 venues across London, with another 4 venues currently under development. Revenues since they started in 2014 have increased more than 46 times, and we expect further significant growth next year as additional venues open.
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