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Posh fast food chain LEON to create 1000 new jobs following big funding deal

London fast food brand LEON has completed a £19m funding deal with entrepreneur bank OakNorth as it looks to meet UK-wide demand for its natural fast food restaurants.

The chain, which launched its first restaurant in Carnaby Street in 2004, has almost doubled the number of restaurants in its repertoire and opened its first overseas outlet in Amsterdam last month.

It now hopes to open another 50 sites within the next four years, along with the creation of 1,000 new jobs, thanks to this new financing deal.

Founder and Chief Executive, John Vincent, said the fast food brand is now hoping to meet the clamour of demand for its restaurants across the country.

He said: “We are so happy that people across the country ask us to bring LEON to their towns and cities, and that we have seven hundred people working with us who want to grow and progress.

“This significant amount of money makes it possible for us to achieve both these things, and takes us a step closer to achieving our aim of making it easy for everyone to eat and live well.”

Mayfair-based OakNorth began lending last September after it obtained FCA approval with a focus on fast-growing businesses and entrepreneurs that often struggling to obtain the necessary funding from traditional lenders.

According to the alternative bank it has now completed £50m-worth of deals with smaller and medium-sized UK businesses since the EU referendum, which it claims highlights the benefits it poses over bigger banks.

Rishi Khosla, co-founder and chief executive of OakNorth Bank, commented: “When we launched less than a year ago, we did so with the intention of shaking up the UK lending market and challenging the status quo.

“We wanted to offer the country’s entrepreneurs a banking experience that was dramatically different to that which my business partner and I had encountered as entrepreneurs trying to secure growth capital for our previous venture.

“We’re therefore delighted to be supporting LEON in its next phase of growth – an ambitious and entrepreneurial business.”