Boparan Restaurant in line to buy UK's GBK burger chain - report

Ed's Easy Diner owner Boparan Restaurant Group was set to buy UK chain Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) out of administration, Sky News reported without citing sources.

GBK was put into administration on Wednesday after its South African restaurant owner Famous Brands pulled the plug on any further financial assistance.

Future options included an insolvent sale of the business and assets, Famous Brands said. Boparan rescued the ailing restaurant chain Carluccio's for £3.4m earlier this year.

The GBK deal was expected to take place later this week, and potentially as soon as Wednesday, the report stated without citing sources.

It was expected to save roughly 650 jobs and 35 of GBK's restaurants, meaning that dozens more were likely to close permanently with the loss of several hundred jobs. Before lockdown the chain employed almost 1,300 staff across 62 sites, but the chain was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Boparan Restaurants is understood to have seen off competition from the new owners of GBK's rival burger chain, Byron, to clinch a deal, the report added.