Good Spirits Hospitality has announced plans to buy Nourish Group, which owns 10 hospitality venues around New Zealand including Soul Bar & Bistro, Shed 5 and Pravda Café and Grill.

The acquisition would more than double the size and earnings of GSH, which already owns 10 venues, including Danny Doolans and The Cav, and make it one of New Zealand’s largest hospitality operators.

GSH’s wholly owned subsidiary Good Spirits Hospitality No.2 Limited has entered into the conditional agreement to acquire all of the shares in Nourish Group Limited, which owns Soul Bar & Bistro, Talulah, The Chamberlain, The Brit, Andiamo, Shed 5, The Crab Shack (Wellington), Pravda Café and Grill, Jervois Steak House (Auckland and Queenstown) and also provides advisory services to Bistro Lago. It will also take the ownership rights to the brand The Crab Shack. Once complete, GSH will employ more than 450 people.

The deal – worth $21.3 million with up to an additional $5.9 million payable 12 to 24 months after settlement based on venue outperformance – includes Nourish Group founder Richard Sigley joining the GSH board and executive team.

“This is a transformational growth opportunity for GSH,” said Good Spirits Hospitality’s Chair Duncan Makeig. “We are excited about the opportunity to leverage Nourish Group’s industry-leading expertise in the restaurant and social dining segments. The combined group will provide a platform for further growth and innovation.

“We look forward to welcoming Nourish Group’s founder Richard Sigley, who will join the GSH Board and executive to lead our creative and growth agenda, along with his executive team and all the Nourish staff and patrons to the GSH group,” said Makeig. 

“GSH is delighted for the staff in both companies and is committed to being the employer of choice in the on-premise hospitality sector,” said Geoff Tuttle, CEO of GSH.

“Both GSH and Nourish have dedicated, strong teams of talented hospitality professionals. We also each hold a number of long-standing, trusted partnerships with suppliers and industry players that we look forward to jointly leveraging with our new scale and geographic reach.”

The owners of Nourish Group will retain The Crab Shack (Auckland). 

Completion of the acquisition is subject to several conditions, including GSH's shareholder approvals, which will be sought at a special shareholder’s meeting anticipated to be held in the first quarter of 2022.