The family holding company owned by entrepreneur Manuel Lao (ex Cirsa) is the vehicle's main investor
The founder of AmRest, Henry McGovern, and the co-founder of Grupo Zena and MegaFood and founder of the Restauravia Group, Steven K. Winegar, two of Europe’s leading names in the restaurant industry, have launched the McWin Food Ecosystem Fund, managed by their investment firm McWin sro, with the support of Nortia Capital, Manuel Lao’s investment holding company.
The new fund, which will raise between 250 and 300 million euros, will invest in leading restaurant and food technology companies, covering one of the most attractive niches in the current market for investors: one that combines both sectors.
McWin Food Ecosystem Fund was created with the intention of providing an innovative investment platform in Food Service and Food Tech that provides a vehicle to help accelerate the transformation of the world’s food system and support global sustainability. As one of its most important missions, the fund aims to provide access to capital to high potential companies seeking to develop and expand, offering the added value of the know-how and years of business experience of the executives of the McWin Food Ecosystem Fund.
Henry McGovern, is the founder of AmRest Holdings SE, one of Europe’s leading restaurant companies. Under his leadership, and since its creation in 1993 until he sold his share in 2019, Amrest opened a total of 2,300 restaurants, in 28 countries, with a combination of leading franchised brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks or Burger King and such as La Tagliatella, SushiShop and Blue Frog. Amrest also established itself as one of the largest distribution companies for the sector and was a pioneer by being the first restaurant investor on aggregators such as Pizza Portal and Glovo.
Steve Winegar started his career in the restaurant industry in 1988 when he took over Foster’s Hollywood. In 1993, he went on to co-found the Zena Group, which expanded to 430 restaurants before he sold his share in 2003. That same year, he founded Grupo Restauravía with which, in 2006, he acquired La Tagliatella, reaching a total of 150 restaurants between La Tagliatella and KFC’s. From 2006 to 2011, he also developed a state-of-the-art production facility and logistics network. In 2011, AmRest acquired the Restauravia Group and Steve Winegar joined its shareholders and Board, where he remained from 2015 to 2019. Between 2014 and 2016, he also served on the board of Telepizza.
The two partners have made dozens of acquisitions in the restaurant sector. Together, the two partners have acquired more than 2,900 restaurants across Europe and Asia. Henry McGovern and Steve Winegar are experts in scaling businesses and crossing frontiers. They are currently investors in Vapiano, Cook Unity and dean&david, as well as pioneering companies in the alternative protein sector such as BlueNalu, Eat Just, Impossible Foods and Memphis Meats.