Cafe Deli acquired by The Partyman

James Sinclair, CEO of The Partyman Company, has described his acquisition of Café Deli as “a marriage made in heaven” due to the synergies with his other businesses.

KBS Corporate was instructed on the sale of Café Deli by owners Angie and Mario Cappellazzi, who were seeking a buyer for their London-based food and beverage wholesale company which supplies independent retailers across England’s capital.

Fabio Rambelli, KBS Corporate Associate Director, advised upon a sale of Café Deli to The Partyman, which as its name suggests is a group of companies operating in the leisure and entertainment sectors.

In a video on his YouTube channel, James explained why he was “super-excited” to add Café Deli to his portfolio, detailing the benefits it can bring to his other brands such as Rossi Ice Cream, The Blue Boar, Lee Valley Farm, Marsh Farm and Twizzle Tops.

“Three and a half years ago, I bought the Rossi ice cream company which only had a couple of vans and we were listed with a couple of wholesalers – getting listed with more was like pushing water up a hill,” said the Essex-based entrepreneur.

“I knew if I could buy my own food services business that was operating at scale, just like Café Deli, at the stroke of a pen on contract-signing I’d be able to distribute my products just like that, and that’s what happened.

“Café Deli is supplying over 2,000 independent customers and considering Rossi only had 300-400 active ice cream customers, putting it all together is a marriage made in heaven.

“We didn’t have the volume and the infrastructure Café Deli gave us as soon as we signed the contract. It means we can get the ice cream and bakery products we make at Rossi into London and around the M25 every day.

“I’m super-excited about this acquisition because it fits so strategically well with all of my other companies.

“The real reason this is extra special is that we also own a hotel, two visitor attractions, a big chain of indoor play centres and day nurseries – they need food and drink, and that’s what Café Deli does.”

The synergies were not the only reason why Café Deli appealed to The Partyman. James, who founded his empire as a children’s entertainer in 2005, recognised that Angie and Mario owned an extremely well-run company with solid foundations and an excellent workforce.

“When I bought Café Deli it was a commercially profitable enterprise working without the owners in it, which to me defines a fantastic business,” explained James. “It doesn’t need me in it running and managing it. It has an amazing management team in place that can look after the day-to-day, and it has loads of capacity to do more.

“I think I paid a fair price but when you’ve got a good business like Café Deli it’s not just about the money, they (the vendors) are choosing the right people to take on the business and look after their staff. They built up this business over four decades and of course they cared about what happened to it.

“I had a brilliant relationship with Angie and Mario, who owned the business before me. They are lovely, wonderful people and I’m very thankful they have given me and my team the chance to take the business to the next level.”

Angie posted a five-star Google review regarding the service provided by KBS Corporate and in particular Fabio Rambelli.

“KBS have been excellent during the process of selling my business,” read Angie’s review. “In particular Fabio has always been at the end of a phone or email whenever I needed to speak to him.

“There were a few obstacles to navigate during the process, but Fabio was available when I needed advice (which was quite often).” Fabio, and Café Deli, expressed their thanks to Guvvy Sandhu, Iqra Mumtaz and Harriet Jones at Mackrell Solicitors for their diligence during the transaction.