The Thresher Group, the UK’s largest off-licence chain, has acquired the leapingsalmon.com food company, for a price thought to be between £2m and £5m (US$3.3-8.2m).
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The deal will mean the company’s stores will start selling gourmet mealkits from later on this summer and is being seen as an attempt to fend off the stifling competition from the UK’s supermarket chains.
Leapingsalmon was established in 1999 by James Marshall and last year sold 100,000 meals, mostly in London. Its target audience is the time-pressured urban professional.
Thresher will install chiller cabinets in 500 of its 2000 stores, aiming at those with heavy commuter traffic such as the stores in railway stations. They will offer packs with all the ingredients for dishes such as leapingsalmon’s Thai green curry or its Portuguese chicken paella.
The off-licence group will also sell its wine through the leapingsalmon website.
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By GlobalDataDavid Williams, chief executive of Thresher, said the deal was an important part of re-positioning Thresher from being a traditional off-licence chain.
“It’s an unusual move but one we are very excited about as we want people to re-appraise our stores,” he said.
“Our research has shown that people love our wines, but ask us ‘where’s the food’?
just-food.com did a feature on leapingsalmon.com shortly after it launched. Members can read it here.
