Nine branches of The Real Greek are to close permanently, with 151 staff made redundant, after the Mediterranean restaurant chain collapsed into administration. The closures form part of a rescue deal that will see the owner of Côte Restaurants acquire 19 of the chain’s 28 UK sites, sparing the jobs of 358 workers.
Closures and rescue deal
The Real Greek’s parent company, Fulham Shore, was placed into administration, prompting the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal as administrators. Karali Group, the family-owned operator behind Côte Restaurants, Taco Bell and Marugame Udon, announced on Friday that it had struck a deal to take over 19 of The Real Greek’s restaurants. The locations that will shut have not been disclosed, but industry publication Propel reported that the chain’s central kitchen will also close.
Paul Berkovi, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, said: “We have worked closely with The Real Greek’s management team and are pleased to have completed a transaction that secures a future for a restaurant group enjoyed by diners over many years. Our immediate focus as administrators will be to provide a smooth transition for the business and to support employees affected by site closures. We are grateful to all stakeholders for their constructive engagement throughout this process.”
Marcel Khan, chief executive of Fulham Shore, said: “The transaction will ensure that the business is placed on a more sustainable footing for the future, while allowing The Fulham Shore to focus its energy and investment behind Franco Manca and its significant growth potential. We’re pleased to be handing it over to Karali with real momentum. We will now do everything we can to support colleagues affected by this process and believe that both the brand and its teams will be in very good hands as the business moves into its next chapter.”
What went wrong for The Real Greek?
Japanese restaurant group Toridoll, which acquired Fulham Shore with backing from investment firm Capdesia in April 2023 for £93.4 million, blamed the chain’s collapse on severe trading conditions. In a statement, Toridoll said: “In recent years, high levels of inflation in the UK, driven by rising energy and food prices together with increase in labour costs resulting from rises in the minimum wage, have created a more challenging operating environment for the hospitality industry than initially anticipated.” The group added that “the deterioration in the economic environment has had a more significant impact on the Greek restaurant brand The Real Greek than on the Franco Manca business.”
At the time of the acquisition, Toridoll had expressed confidence in the growth potential of both The Real Greek and Franco Manca, domestically and internationally. But within three years, the group’s financial results showed Fulham Shore’s revenue had fallen 5.4% year-on-year, with sales and profit marked as “bad.” In the financial year ending March 2022, Fulham Shore had reported revenue of £82.7 million and was cash flow positive.
The wider hospitality industry has also been hit by a cascade of cost pressures. Employers face higher national insurance contributions, a rising national living wage, a lack of business rates relief for restaurants, and a VAT rate that remains disproportionately high compared with other European countries. Consumers, squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis, are cutting back on discretionary spending, further depressing demand.
Fulham Shore’s troubles are not limited to The Real Greek. Its sister brand, Franco Manca, is undergoing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring that will see 16 of its 70 UK venues close with the loss of 225 jobs. Fulham Shore will retain ownership of Franco Manca under that process.
Karali Group, led by brothers Salim and Karim Janmohamed, has a track record of acquiring distressed hospitality assets. In October 2025 it bought Côte Restaurants; in June 2024 it became the UK’s largest Taco Bell operator by purchasing 46 restaurants from a single franchisee for £3.5 million; it has signed a master franchise deal for Marugame Udon; and it acquired Crosstown Doughnuts through a pre-pack administration sale. The group previously operated 74 Burger King sites as the largest UK franchisee but exited them all in 2022.
The collapse of The Real Greek and the simultaneous restructuring at Franco Manca reflect a broader pattern across Britain’s hospitality sector. Whitbread, for example, is cutting up to 3,800 jobs and exiting its branded restaurant estate. The final quarter of 2024 saw an acceleration in closures as mounting cost pressures forced many operators into consolidation or administration.
