The world's largest discount diners' club, comprising tastecard and Gourmet Society, currently has over 1.1 million members, and 10,000 unique partner restaurants.
tastecard was founded in 2005, by Matt Turner, with the aim of making dining out more affordable for the public, together with helping restaurants, by encouraging people to visit their establishments more often. It is now the UK's largest diners' club and has become increasingly tech enabled, allowing it to continue to rapidly expand.
Gourmet Society was incorporated in 2003 as the first national diners' club in the UK. It operates the same business model as tastecard.
Both companies were acquired in 2014 by DIDIX BV, a Dutch gift card business backed by Waterland Private Equity. We advised the shareholders of tastecard and Gourmet Society on these strategic transactions.
Following immediate strong growth, DIDIX, alongside Waterland re-engaged us, as a result of our sector expertise, to act as lead advisors on the disposal of the combined group, a bigger, non-core UK subsidiary element of the Dutch gifting business.
We team ran a competitive process, with much interest coming from the private equity community in a very attractive, high growth asset.
Bridgepoint Capital was selected as the preferred partner for the businesses, providing all parties (DIDIX, Waterland and the shareholders of both tastecard and Gourmet Society) with the desired outcome.
The deal sees Matt Turner remain as Group CEO, alongside his existing management team, who will continue to drive the growth of the combined business both domestically, and internationally.
We provided lead advisory, management advisory and tax advisory services, enabling a seamless and joined up process for all parties and securing a prosperous future for the business.
The Grant Thornton corporate finance team were the outstanding advisor demonstrating the team clearly understood the value drivers of Didix's Diners Club to ensure the business was strategically positioned for a process and ensuring Waterland and all stakeholders objectives were met and exceeded. Their knowledge of and relationships with trade and financial buyers globally was highly impressive.
Boudewijn Jansen CEO, DIDIX BV
