Honesty and kindness – LEON founder delivers lesson in keeping loyalty

After a turbulent year, fast food business LEON has been bought by its previous owner and co-founder, John Vincent, whose social media posts and emails to customers have been a lesson in how to address complex change, retain loyalty, and even drive footfall in difficult times. 

2025 was not kind to LEON. After profits tanked under the ownership of supermarket chain Asda, the end of the year brought closures and job losses. We examine how Vincent is managing to change the narrative, and what businesses can learn from his comms.

Being honest about the present while looking to the future

In December, the news for LEON was all bad. The company had to appoint administrators, and the decision was taken to shut 20 stores across the country and make job cuts as a result. This announcement came after Asda’s tenure had seen the chain lose around £10m a year. 

Vincent retook the helm in November, and told BBC News that he was sympathetic to Asda’s management team’s struggles, but added candidly: “In the last two years, Asda had bigger fish to fry, and LEON was always a business they didn’t feel fitted their strategy.” Vincent – and the other LEON co-founders – have openly spoken and written about how the brand lost its way under Asda, including Vincent’s comment: “As you may have noticed, LEON has drifted from some of its core principles.”

But it hasn’t all been dwelling on the difficulties. Vincent has pushed forward with a balance of honesty about the current situation for his employees and tantalising hints about what fans of the brand can now expect in the coming months.

In fact, Vincent is reported by The Guardian to have drafted in co-founder Allegra McEvedy, who is no longer involved in the business side of the venture, to create a menu that goes back to the original tenets the brand lived by.

Showing care for staff

Rather than skirting around the fact that job losses were inevitable, Vincent sent an email to subscribers that dealt with this head on. “We will need to close the restaurants that are not profitable and that we expect will not return to profitability. That means reducing from around 70 to around 50 locations,” he wrote. 

However, he added that LEON management had already reached out to rival Pret A Manger and created “a dedicated application route” to support LEON employees as they try to find a new role. He also explained that LEON would fight to keep as many employees as possible, finding them new positions in restaurants that were staying open. 

The letter reads as a masterclass in acknowledging the truth – job cuts and closures – while developing practical ways to help staff find a solution, showing they were valued in their roles. Balancing the bad with the solution can be an effective way to communicate difficult news to your customers, from price hikes to stock issues. 

With confidence low among many business owners – especially in the F&B sector where LEON resides – Vincent’s letter is valuable reading. Lots of businesses are having to make the tough call to let staff go, and Vincent has shown how to do this with compassion and without repelling customers.

Adding a personal touch

However, it is the inclusion of his email address in the letter that has won the most admiration. 

Vincent asks customers to be part of the journey to bring LEON back to what it had been: “From my many conversations with our guests across the last four weeks, it is clear that you also share my belief that we must also restore the culture of teamwork and customer service in our restaurants. That is at the end of the day my responsibility.” 

This simple inclusion gives customers a sense of being part of the brand’s journey. It gives them emotional investment in LEON’s restoration, potentially making them more likely to visit when the new menu goes live.

In his communications with customers, Vincent has turned a dire situation into one in which he has won praise for compassion, excited customers about the future, and reinvigorated loyalty by giving customers a personal way to have a say in the future of the brand. For the many businesses going through hardships, this could be a blueprint for navigating difficult change. 

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Planet of the Grapes founder Matt Harris has over 25 years of experience in hospitality. Read his bi-monthly column for Startups now.

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