The boss of Leon today attacked Labour’s ‘incredibly toxic tax regime’ which threatens to cripple the hospitality industry and his own his efforts to revive his food chain.

John Vincent, the founder who recently bought back the company, warned more restaurant chains would ‘disappear’ under Rachel Reeves, and only those making ‘cr** food’ will survive.

His withering analysis came after he unveiled plans to axe 20 loss-making restaurants in a bid to haul the business back to profitability. 

Mr Vincent said the government takes 36 pence of every pound Leon brings in, while the business is left with ‘negative ten pence’.

He pinned this on VAT on eat-in food, which supermarket competitors do not have to pay, and Reeves’ recent hikes in employee National Insurance.

Leon, which has been haemorrhaging £10million a year, entered administration in December 2025.

He co-founded the company in 2004 before it was sold to EG Group in 2021, passed onto Asda in 2023, and then bought back entirely by Mr Vincent last October.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today Programme, Mr Vincent said he ‘would love to have more restaurants’, but the government must first change its ‘incredibly toxic tax regime that is impacting our industry’.

He said that businesses in his industry ‘only ever made three percent profit’, so whacking on these extra taxes wipes that out completely.

It means that ‘everyone is losing money; the only people who are going to survive are those selling cr** food’, he said.

Mr Vincent also said he fears that anti-social Gen-Z will force the business in a direction against his will.

While he wants to invest in people over tech, he said: ‘My fear is that young people don’t want to talk to humans, they just want to order on a screen or a phone.’

He also fears that the ‘quality of people’ wanting to work in the industry after Brexit and Covid has been ‘compromised’ – which may also necessitate a ‘more tech solution’.

Hope for Mr Vincent is to be found in an expected source: weight loss jabs.

He said the ‘type of food we enjoy serving is the sort of food the people on weight loss jabs want to eat’, and so sees an opportunity to profit from people slimming down and eating more consciously.

Mr Vincent also emphasised the importance of brands having a real purpose, rather than a ‘fake’ one.

He said: ‘My really strong belief is that when you run a business for money, you end up making less money. 

‘If you focus on soul, purpose, then product, then business model, then people, the customer and then economics, the economics come good.’