The boss of ‘naturally fast food’ chain Leon warned Labour’s ‘incredibly toxic tax regime’ is crippling his efforts to revive the business.
John Vincent, the original founder who recently bought back the company, said more restaurant chains will ‘disappear’ under Rachel Reeves‘ penny pinching, and only those making ‘cr** food’ will survive.
Mr Vincent revealed that the government takes 36 pence of every pound Leon brings in, while the business is left with ‘negative ten pence’.
He pinned this on VAT on eat-in food, which supermarket competitors do not have to pay, and Reeves’ recent hikes in employee National Insurance.
Leon, which has been haemorrhaging £10million a year, entered administration in December 2025 – immediately after Mr Vincent bought it back.
He co-founded the company in 2004 before it was sold to EG Group in 2021, passed onto Asda in 2023, and then bought entirely by Mr Vincent last November.
He is axing 20 loss-making branches of 71 total in a bid haul the business back into profitability.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today Programme, Mr Vincent said he ‘would love to have more restaurants’, but the government must first change its ‘incredibly toxic tax regime that is impacting our industry’.
John Vincent, pictured here with his wife Katie Derham, co-founded Leon and recently bought it back
Leon went into administration last month but Mr Vincent has a plan to turn things around
Leon sells ‘naturally fast food’ such as rice boxes, wraps and burgers – with an emphasis on good quality food
He said that businesses in his industry ‘only ever made three percent profit’, so whacking on these extra taxes wipes that out completely.
It means that ‘everyone is losing money; the only people who are going to survive are those selling crap food’, he said.
Mr Vincent also said he fears that anti-social Gen-Z will force the business in a direction against his will.
While he wants to invest in people over tech, he said: ‘My fear is that young people don’t want to talk to humans, they just want to order on a screen or a phone.’
He also fears that the ‘quality of people’ wanting to work in the industry after Brexit and Covid has been ‘compromised’ – which may also necessitate a ‘more tech solution’.
Hope for Mr Vincent is to be found in an expected source: weight loss jabs.
He said the ‘type of food we enjoy serving is the sort of food the people on weight loss jabs want to eat’, and so sees an opportunity to profit from people slimming down and eating more consciously.
Mr Vincent also emphasised the importance of brands having a real purpose, rather than a ‘fake’ one.
He said: ‘My really strong belief is that when you run a business for money, you end up making less money.
‘If you focus on soul, purpose, then product, then business model, then people, the customer and then economics, the economics come good.’
