Fearless Adventures & Basecamp Founder | Investor | Keynote Speaker | Author of “I’m Never Drinking Again
From Zero Restaurant Experience to a £400 MILLION Sale in 6 Years 📈 In 2018, three entrepreneurs—Tom Grogan Herman Sahota and Saul Lewin —launched WINGSTOP UK (Lemon Pepper Holdings Ltd) without any prior experience in the restaurant industry. Fast forward to 2024, and they’ve sold their business to American private equity firm Sixth Street for over £400 million. Their journey is a testament to the power of vision and determination: • 2018: Opened the first UK Wingstop in London’s Cambridge Circus. • 2024: Expanded to 57 sites, employing over 2,500 staff, and became the UK’s fastest-growing restaurant brand. • Sale: Secured a deal exceeding £400 million with Sixth Street, retaining minority stakes to continue their growth journey. Their success was fueled by tapping into youth culture, collaborating with popular brands, and leveraging social media to engage a Gen Z audience. From novices to industry leaders in just six years. What. A. Journey.
Dominic McGregor This is a brilliant example of how persistence and smart marketing lead to massive success. What a journey!
Started from scratch, now a massive empire. Impressive growth in just 6 years. Vision and hard work truly pay off.
An incredible story of how vision and strategy can disrupt an industry. Truly inspiring! Dominic McGregor
You missed out, built an entire marketing strategy and loyal fan base through their ranch sauce 🤣
This is what I call "A vision." These guys knew exactly what they were doing and had all the necessary experience and vision and succeeded. Well done guys. Now you should launch your own brand. I guess you signed a document not to work in the same arena. Whatever you go to do from this point note you did an amazing job.
As the new private equity owners are clearly not short of money I hope they do not cut staff numbers and pay them the real living wage.
Congratulations to all those Wingstop employees and Franchise owner operators who delivered the brand experience to the customer that generated the revenue and repeat custom that helped to deliver the final sale. 👍
CMO / Co-founder / NED / Venture Builder / Advisor - US / UK / EMEA Integrating Frontier Technology to Reshape Consumer Business Strategies - Web3 / AI / D2C 3.0 / Hospitality / Modern Leadership
1dIt’s a franchise. Let’s get real for a minute. They were brave and called a U.S. business offering to expand. It’s a great story still and that’s an eye watering amount of money - most of which probably paid off a big debt facility.