Tue 4th Mar 2025 - Exclusive: Caravan completes management buyout Exclusive – Caravan completes management buyout, time to push forward with ‘strategic vision and direction’: Caravan, the restaurant, bar and coffee-roasting concept, has completed a management buyout, which has seen private equity firm Active Partners exit the business, Propel has learned. The management team, led by chief executive Laura Harper-Hinton, alongside fellow co-founders Chris Ammermann and Miles Kirby, now fully owns and controls the business again. Active took a minority stake in the then four-strong business at the start of 2017. Founded in 2009, Caravan currently operates nine all-day dining restaurants, three brew bars and a stand-alone coffee roastery in north London. Last year, the business opened its first restaurant and coffee roastery outside London, with a Manchester launch in the emerging area of St Johns. Caravan said further expansion is also on the horizon, with plans for new openings in 2025. Last March, Caravan, which became a certified B-Corp last summer, told Propel that the business had begun discussions on funding options for 2024-25 and said further regional locations were definitely on the cards, alongside other London locations. The business had started discussions with Ashcombe Advisers about “what funding options we may have for the business in 2024-2025”. Harper-Hinton said: “We've had a great journey with Active Partners as a minority investor, and now it's time to push forward with our strategic vision and direction. We’ll continue to grow the brand and business in line with our values, and have exciting plans for the future.” Harper-Hinton told Propel that the success of the Manchester site, to which an outside terrace will be added before this summer, has given the business confidence to seek out further regional opportunities. She said: “I won't reel off all the places we are looking at. We will always stay true to our mantra of wanting to open in places that we would want to hang out in and we love, and we can really get behind creatively. So that's the Glasgows, the Edinburghs of this world. We're looking at Cardiff, maybe Dublin – really interesting cities, from the culture, the sport, the music, the heritage of these places. But then I do also think that Caravan has the opportunity to work in sort of the more tertiary locations as well. So, we're not ruling those out. We are in a fortunate position where we are getting a lot of landlords who still want us to place make and are also being offered amazing capital contributions. Long may that continue, because it's a challenging market out there, but I do think that our all-day offering is a great way to place-make a development.” The refinancing for the management buy-out was supported by HSBC, which has also provided additional funding to fuel future growth. "We hugely value our long-standing relationship with HSBC – its backing has been invaluable in allowing us to expand and evolve,” said Harper-Hinton. The company said that its coffee roasting business also remains a “huge strength”, with partnerships in retail, direct-to-consumer and business-to-business all growing channels. Harper-Hinton said: “Despite the current challenges in hospitality and beyond, we’re excited about the future. We have a fantastic management team and hope to continue to invest in our people and carefully and sustainably grow a great hospitality business that focuses on the customer experience and doing things the right way.” Harper-Hinton said the business had a “smasher” of a Christmas, and that January and February had “not been as bad as we thought they would”. Caravan features in the Propel 500 report, an unparalleled resource that profiles the UK’s leading hospitality operators ranked by turnover – which is available free now to Premium Club subscribers. This comprehensive report provides more than 90,000 words of analysis, delving into company histories, leadership structures, site numbers and financial performance, making it an essential resource for industry professionals. A list of the operators included can be discovered now by visiting the Propel 500 page on Propel’s website. The guide is delivered in two parts: an introductory PDF, featuring deep dives into the top 25 companies and 6,500 words of insight from Propel’s expert writers, and a fully searchable Excel sheet, offering easy access to all the data. Key highlights include Mark Wingett’s exploration of mergers and acquisitions shaping the Top 500’s future, Tim Street’s view of the UK’s franchise market, and Phil Pemberton’s insights into experiential leisure as a hospitality cornerstone. Katherine Doggrell examines developments in UK hotels, while Mark Bentley, business development director at HDI, identifies emerging growth sectors, and Maria Vanifatova, founder of Meaningful Vision, analyses trends in quick service restaurants. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.