Spaghetti House fails to find a buyer

London fast-casual restaurant chain Spaghetti House has failed to find a buyer.

Earlier this year, Spaghetti House collapsed into administration and closed all of its restaurants after 70 years of trading.

Lavval Restaurants Limited, which traded under Spaghetti House, appointed administrators Asher Miller and Stephen Katz of Begbies Traynor on 6 May to oversee a controlled wind down of the company.

The family-owned restaurant business ceased trading upon entering administration, when all sites were closed and staff were made redundant.

While two offers for the business were made, an agreement with the brand owner over licensing arrangements stopped a sale. At that point the directors were forced to filed for insolvency.  

The Spaghetti House on Argyll Street has since been sold to US sandwich franchise Jersey Mike’s, while its High Street Kensington site was picked up by Sang Saka.

Claims for pay by former employees total £116,301, which administrators expect will be paid in due course, while HMRC is owed £723,986, which will be repaid depending on the success of asset sales.

Claims of unsecured creditors were estimated at £1.8m, with insufficient funds to pay.

In administration documents on Companies House, the business was said to have suffered from an increasingly competitive London market. It pointed to local pubs that had moved into food sales to counteract declining beer revenue, as well as dark kitchens.

Along with rising supplier costs, higher operational expenses, including wages and energy bills, and the cost of living crisis, the business was unable to turn a profit.

Spaghetti House was founded by two friends – Simone Lavarini and Lorenzo Fraquelli – in London’s Goodge Street in 1955.

By 1985, the brand’s ready-made pastas were stocked across supermarkets and luxury department stores, such as Harrods and Fortnum & Masons. At its peak, Spaghetti House had close to a dozen sites across London.

At the time of its closure, Spaghetti House was operating five restaurants across London, in Marble Arch, Carnaby, Oxford Street, Kensington and Soho.

In March 2024, the restaurant group posted a pre-tax loss of £177,000 following an “extremely difficult year” for the business.

Photo: Andriy Blokhin/Shutterstock