Joe GallopSports and hospitality caterer Levy UK + Ireland has taken a 50% stake in bars and event solutions business Peppermint.
It follows a partnership over the past year that saw Peppermint supply at venues across the Levy portfolio, including Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (cap. 62,850), Cheltenham Racecourse (67,500), Villa Park (42,785) and Aviva Stadium (51,700) in Dublin.
The joint venture will see Peppermint continue to grow its core business in events and festivals, while Levy will bring additional support in retail, sustainability initiatives and access to its hospitality delivery businesses.
Levy UK + Ireland managing director Jon Davies said, “The introduction came from AEG, our partners at The O2, who Peppermint also work alongside – a great example of how mutual partners and liked-minded businesses can work together. Our commitment to the consumer journey using leading edge technology and data insight matched with Peppermint’s award-winning capabilities will be a force to be reckoned with.”
Peppermint said it services at more than 40 events a year and has developed relationships with companies such as AEG, IMG, Brand Events and Live Nation. It has exclusively operated the bars contract for American Express BST Hyde Park since its inception in 2013.
Peppermint was founded in 2003 by Alex Brooke and Adam Hempenstall, who met at university where they both promoted student events. The deal will see Brooke and Hempenstall continue to run the business alongside operations director Jon Reid.
The company also runs its own pop-up events, most recently at London’s Southbank with Between The Bridges (pictured).
Brooke said, “This is an exciting new chapter in Peppermint’s history. The natural evolution of our business is to build on our work in Greenfield events into the sports sector and continue adding real value to our Levy partnership and the contracts and venues they operate. What’s more, coming together with Levy to further grow within the events and festival sector is an extremely powerful combination; enabling high volume, high quality and highly produced environments with the hospitality, catering and street food skills of Levy and its partner businesses.”
Hempenstall said, “Working with the Levy team over the past year has been incredibly positive and we are excited to have found a partner that shares our values and passion to lead from the front when it comes to recognising and developing our people. We also share the urgency in delivering sustainability across our industry, with a shared goal for net zero by 2027, one of the most aggressive in our industry.”