Press Releases

Rollits advised the management team in their £13m buy in of Pasta King (UK) Ltd (“Pasta King”), which provides pasta meals to schools and other sectors.

Pasta King provides meal solutions comprising mostly pasta with fresh sauces. The meals are served hot from "pasta bars" that are loaned out free-of-charge to the customer base. As a healthy and tasty food offering, Pasta King has become very popular in secondary schools nationwide. It satisfies new Governmental standards on salt, fat, fibre and vegetable content.

Pasta King provides a quick, convenient, off-the shelf solution for caterers faced with an ever narrowing choice of menu options to offer to students.

In addition to its dominant position in the UK secondary school market, Pasta King has a growing presence in universities, business and industry and the leisure sectors.

Nasim Sharf, corporate partner, who led the team at Rollits, said:
“Rollits was pleased to work again with Howard Farquhar and Mike Cole who have become MD and Chairman of Pasta King. Howard and Mike have a great track record and bring proven quality to Pasta King. This deal was backed by NBGI Private Equity and HSBC. Rollits’ expertise and experience of private equity deals were put to good use in ensuring this deal was completed sensibly and in the tight timescale”

Howard Farquhar, new MD of Pasta King who lives in Myton-on-Swale near York, said:
“Pasta King has a very strong position in secondary schools. We want to build on that with improved merchandising, marketing and product development not only for further growth in the education sector but also to significantly increase our presence in other markets.”