A major UK fast food chain closing 23 restaurants across the UK has been saved by its founder. Leonentered into administration in December last year, ahead of Christmas.

Now, founder and owner John Vincent has saved the company through a £2.5 million cash injection. Administrators BTG Begbies Traynor and Quantuma were appointed by Vincent to "lay out options for the future of the company." The owner said Leon will return to growth after a restructure, hoping to expand to 100 sites within four years. Administration came after LEon lost £60 million in the five years after being taken over by the EG Group and integrating with Asda. He told The Grocer : "I would like to thank everyone inside and outside Leon who has helped over the last few months as we have undergone a painful but necessary restructuring to secure the company's future. We have now reached the point where the company can exit administration and continue its rejuvenation as a smaller but more sustainablecompany devoted to serving wonderful food to its customers

"There is a lot of affection for Leon, and I am committed to working on behalf of our guests, teams and suppliers to make the company what people want it to be."

Speaking previously, Vincent said he now wants to run Leon "as a family business, almost like running your own corner shop".

He says the business will be fuelled by a "founder's mentality", pondering problems from the early hours of the morning to late at night.

"The average player in this market is going to go bankrupt," he says. "The only winners in this space, ultimately will outstrip everyone else on revenue."

He accused Labour of "taxing businesses to extinction" and "creating the opposite of growth." The survival plan for Leon is to be "massively differentiated". "Leon has to be niche: it can't be on every high street.

"We want to be the best food company in the world but don't want to be the biggest," he said at the time. Every Leon should be magical. I want to be a beacon of what's possible."