Fuller’s clinches £7.3m cider and pizza business
FULLER, Smith and Turner has taken a 51 per cent stake in cider and restaurant business The Stable.
The £7.3m deal, which also sees Fuller’s take the freehold of The Bull Hotel in Dorset, is expected to be profit-neutral for the first year as four of The Stable’s six outlets have opened in the last 12 months.
“The Stable has a very clear brand proposition and appeals to a demographic that is perfectly in tune with Fuller’s existing customer base,” said Fuller’s Inns managing director Jonathon Swaine.
The Stable’s founders Richard and Nikki Cooper, who started the business in 2006, will continue to run the business following the deal, with plans to expand further.
“Richard and Nikki’s entrepreneurial skills will be an asset to Fuller’s and we can add our experience of operating in the wider southern counties, as well as years of experience at multi-site operations, to their business. We believe The Stable has great potential to expand across our core southern trading area,” added Swaine. Fuller’s has the option of increasing its investment in The Stable in the future.
“We’ve spent the last four and a half years of our life building up The Stable and we wanted to ensure we had a partner with a similar culture and ethos,” said Nikki Cooper.