Greene King acquires Hickory's with plans to create a national restaurant brand

11 October 2022 by
Greene King acquires Hickory's with plans to create a national restaurant brand

Pub group Greene king has acquired smokehouse restaurant group Hickory's with plans to grow it into a national dining brand.

Hickory's was founded in 2010 by Neil McDonnell and now runs 17 restaurants across the Midlands and north west, employing around 1,500 people.

It targets the family market, and its sites include chef's tables, cinemas, and children's play areas.

Greene King runs around 2,600 pubs and restaurants across the UK under brands including Loch Fyne, Hungry Horse and Farmhouse Inns.

The group said Hickory's had performed "exceptionally well" since reopening following the pandemic and was "highly complementary" to its current portfolio.

Hickory's will continue to be run by McDonnell and managing director John Welsh.

Nick Mackenzie, chief executive officer at Greene King, said: "We are confident that we can take Hickory's to the next chapter in its history, and we look forward to working with John and the whole of the Hickory's team as we focus on building it into a national dining brand."

McDonnell added: "We are delighted to have this investment from Greene King which enables us to bring the Hickory's smokehouse offer to many more guests and locations. This will provide our teams with fantastic opportunities for growth and development."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media Group is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking