Gino D’Acampo chain rescued in £12.9m pre-pandemic bailout
Celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo’s restaurant chain received a £12.9m bailout before venues were struck by Covid closures.
The money was lent by D’Acampo’s co-investors and Iceland bosses, Sir Malcom Walker and Tarsem Dhaliwal, who run the linked company Individual Restaurants.
Gino D’Acampo Worldwide Restaurants owes the Piccolinos owner £12.9m, including a £7.125m bank loan taken out in 2019, according to accounts for last year.
Co-investor Sir Malcolm Walker described the money as a simple transaction within the group, according to The Daily Mail.
D’Acampo’s chain has suffered from four years of losses totalling £7.6m following the launch of its first site in 2015.
The chef’s My Pasta Bar business has also struggled with debt of £5m and has borrowed heavily.
D’Acampo opened Luciano, a high-end Italian restaurant, at the ME london hotel on the Strand last month in partnership with Meliá Hotels International.
“I would guess the relationship between him, Sir Malcolm and Tarsem Dhaliwal is pretty fraught, given the losses and the fact he’s gone away opening these new restaurants with someone else now. The losses must have gone up even more because of the pandemic,” a source told the Mail’s source..
Indvidiual Restaurants did not wish to comment further when approached by CityA.M.