Alex Reilley tells us about how a ‘Game of Thrones’ approach to business, which involved defining ‘the Cause’, enabled him and his team to turn Loungers from a small café-bar chain into a hugely successful nationwide brand. ‘The biggest challenge was dealing with the scale,’ reveals Alex in the second of our ‘7, 17, 70’
Recent news
Piper has sold its stake in fast growing café-bar chain Loungers to Lion Capital in a transaction valuing the business at £137m. Piper invested £16m in Loungers in April 2012 when the business comprised 20 Lounges and three Cosy Club sites across the UK. Over the past four years, the company has more than quadrupled
The Piper team have been absolutely brilliant for Loungers and we’ve enjoyed a wonderful partnership with them over the last five years. Piper’s experience, support and expertise have proved invaluable in assisting the management team to rapidly grow the business while protecting and enhancing the special culture that exists within Loungers.
Recent news
Loungers will reach 50 sites with the opening of Como Lounge in Witney, Oxfordshire on 6th July. Loungers started life in 2002 as a ten-table café/bar in the Southville suburb of Bristol and initially grew fairly slowly, only reaching double-figures of sites in 2009. However, aided by Piper’s investment in 2012, since then the group
Recent news
Alex Reilley of Loungers has been singled out by his peers as the stand-out individual in the eating-out and drinking-out market. Alex collected the Best Individual prize at this year’s Retailers’ Retailer of the Year Awards, organised by M&C Report, which were held on 5th March at The Dorchester Hotel.
Recent news
Loungers was named Operator of the Year at the annual R200 Awards on 6th November at Merchants Tavern in London’s Shoreditch. Judges said that it had been another impressive year and that they had become the ‘masters of the off-pitch site’.
Recent news
Piper invests in fast growing Lounge cafe-bar chain. Piper, a leading private equity specialist in consumer brands, has taken a significant minority stake in Loungers, the operator behind the highly successful Lounge café-bar chain. Loungers was founded in 2002 by a trio of longstanding friends, Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and Dave Reid, who saw an
We first met Piper about four years ago and have been impressed with the team’s continued support and interest in our business over the intervening period. We see Piper as a great cultural fit for us and very much like the company’s desire to understand our brand and customers and the driving forces behind our success, as well as its obvious commitment to work with us as partners who can add significant value to our business. We are all now focused on scaling the business and ensuring we build an outstanding business and brand legend.