City A.M. reports that Piper Private Equity, the organisation behind the Pitcher and Piano bar chain, has ploughed £6m into developing restaurant chain Hickory’s Smokehouse in a bid to guide and accelerate its expansion.
Piper owns stakes in Be At One and Turtle Bay, and has backed Hickory’s Smokehouse with the aim of establishing 100 Hickory’s restaurants across Britain. This forms the group’s fifth investment from its fifth fund, which raised £107m to invest in consumer companies.
Piper has also appointed restaurant investor Paul Campbell, best known for his involved in Hawksmoor and Tortilla, as chairman.
Hickory’s specialise in slow cooked barbecued meats and is renowned for its 52oz prime rump steak, – the Texas Slab – which costs £70. It was founded by Neil McDonnell in 2010 and currently has three branches in Chester, West Kirby and Rhos-on-Sea, with plans to open 10 more restaurants in the next three to five years.
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