Giraffe World Kitchen

Giraffe is a restaurant and cafe chain based in Birmingham, England which was founded in Hampstead as Giraffe Restaurants in 1998 by Juliette Joffe, Russel Joffe and Andrew Jacobs.[2] Giraffe was owned by its founders, with additional financial backing from private shareholders, 3i investment group and chairman Luke Johnson.

Giraffe Concepts Limited
TypeSubsidiary
GenreRestaurant and Café chain
Founded1998 (1998)
FounderJuliette Joffe
Russel Joffe
Andrew Jacobs
HeadquartersBirmingham, England, UK
Number of locations
39 (UK)
4 (UAE)
1 (Spain) [1]
Area served
United Kingdom
United Arab Emirates
Spain
ParentBoparan Holdings
Websitewww.giraffe.net

3i invested £10 million in the company in October 2006, in a deal that valued the chain at £24 million.[3] On 13 March 2013, it was announced that the chain was to be acquired by Tesco for £48.6m.[4] As part of the acquisition, 3i and Risk Capital Partners sold their shares in the company.[5] Tesco reached an agreement to sell the company to Boparan Holdings in June 2016.[6]

Branches
Giraffe at Trinity Leeds (2013)

The company has 39 outlets across the United Kingdom, including twelve in Greater London, plus four in the United Arab Emirates, and one in Spain.[1] The company's first outlet in Scotland is in Aberdeen's shopping development, Union Square. A second opened at Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow on 30 June 2014.[7] Branches opened at stores of Tesco in Bournemouth, Inverness and Poole in the autumn of 2014.

It was announced in January 2016, that four restaurants will be closing or moving over to the café brand, Tesco Family Dining. The four that closed were Silverburn, Newcastle, Poole and Swindon. It was further announced in March 2016 that another seven restaurants would close, including those in York, Martlesham, Bournemouth and Sutton.

After selling Giraffe, Tesco announced the closure of all branches located within their stores. In September 2016, the company introduced a new brand, Giraffe World Kitchen, beginning with its branch in Basingstoke.[8] Boparan announced in March 2019 that twenty branches had been tagged for closure "to protect the company", which had made a pre tax loss of £10m, on sales of £67m.[9]

References
  1. "Where to find us". Giraffe Concepts. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  2. "Privacy and Cookies Policy". www.giraffe.net. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  3. Walsh, Dominic (6 October 2006). "3i to put £10m into restaurants". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  4. "Tesco acquires award-winning restaurant group Giraffe". Tesco PLC. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  5. "Tesco buys Giraffe restaurants". BBC. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  6. "Tesco sells Giraffe restaurant chain and Turkish business". BBC News. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  7. "Glasgow Silverburn". Giraffe.net. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  8. Wingett, Mark (20 September 2016). "Giraffe trials new look". Big Hospitality. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  9. "Hundreds of jobs to go as Giraffe and Ed's Easy Diner become victims of casual dining crunch". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
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