Fast food chain Leon is planning to close restaurants and cut jobs, less than two months after it was bought back from Asda by its co-founder John Vincent.

The chain said on Wednesday that it had appointed administrators to lead a restructuring programme, and it was considering how many of its 71 restaurants would need to shut. It did not say how many roles could be affected.

Vincent, who founded Leon in 2004 with Henry Dimbleby, who later became a government food tsar, and chef Allegra McEvedy, bought the business back in October, four years after he sold it to the billionaire Issa brothers’ EG Group petrol forecourts business in a £100m deal.

The chain has now hired advisers from Quantuma after applying for an administration order, and aims to put the business into administration as s

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