Bridges acquires Cucina, creates Impact Food Group

Kenny Wastell
02 October 2018

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Impact investor Bridges Fund Management has acquired school catering business Cucina Restaurants and grouped it with portfolio company Innovate Services under The Impact Food Group (IFG) holding company.

Following the deal, both Cucina and Innovate will continue to operate independently under their existing management teams.

The transaction comes six months after Bridges acquired an £8.5m majority stake in Innovate with capital drawn from Bridges Sustainable Growth IV. The vehicle typically invests £2-20m per portfolio company.

According to a statement, the consolidated business will have a turnover of around £35m and serve around 200 primary and secondary schools across England. IFG will focus on providing healthy and nutritionally balanced, restaurant-quality meals, the statement said.

At the time of Bridges' initial investment in Innovate, the GP said it was looking to capitalise on the increasing demand for the provision of health-focused school meals, driven in large part by increasing rates of childhood obesity.

Company
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, Cucina provides school lunches, in addition to before-school and after-school refreshments. The business generated a turnover of £16.4m in the year ending in March 2018, according to publicly available documents, with an operating loss of £157,000.

People
Bridges Fund Management – Emma Thorne (investment director).
Cucina Restaurants – Steve Quinn (founder, CEO).

Advisers
Equity – RSM Global (corporate finance); Addleshaw Goddard (legal).
Company – Penningtons (legal).