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Euro Garages (EG Group)

Euro Garages (EG Group)
Euro Garages (EG Group)
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Many more photos in the gallery
Locations:1 MSA as an operator, many more restaurants
Introduced:2011 (on motorways)
Removed:2024 (on motorways)
Predecessors:Little Chef, various forecourts
Successors:Asda Express, EG On The Move
Phone number:01254 582111
See also:Applegreen, MFG
Official Website:
www.eg.group

Throughout the 2010s, the growth of Euro Garages was phenomenal, with a portfolio which grew to include thousands of petrol stations and restaurants, one UK motorway service area, and a wide range of partner brands across the world.

Their revised name EG Group became one of the UK's biggest service area operators, selling not just selling fuel but also acting as the UK's biggest operator of KFC, Greggs and Starbucks franchises. Sometimes these would be provided independent of each other, but often they would be combined to create large service areas. Their roll-out benefitted from their purchase of 78 Little Chef restaurants.

Then, their dominance ended. EG Group's loan-funded purchase of Asda was supposed to see them take over Asda's filling stations, but this decision was reversed in October 2021, apparently as new information had come to light. It was announced in May 2023 that Asda would become the parent of EG Group, turning Asda into a foodservice mega-brand, with their chairman calling it "a consumer champion like the UK has never seen". The GMB union said it was about "using ASDA as a cash cow to pay off their debts".

The end result as far as the road user will notice is that all but 31 of EG Group's UK locations became Asda-operated and branded, with the few remaining branded EG On the Move. Most of their stand-alone restaurant franchises have been sold back to the brand. Co-founder Zuber Issa, often praised for his role in the company's rapid growth, announced that he would be taking over those remaining petrol stations, and following up unfulfilled EG Group site plans.

Company History

Euro Garages were founded in 2001 by the Issa family, with a single petrol forecourt in Bury. Since then the company has expanded rapidly, usually by taking over struggling, under-performing petrol stations and redeveloping them to provide additional retail facilities (with various franchise partners including SPAR, Subway, Greggs and Starbucks), in so turning around their fortunes.

One of their biggest early projects was the former Bolton West services, which was rebuilt to provide two large, new buildings.

It was announced between April 2013 and September 2015 that Euro Garages had purchased around 300 corporate filling stations from Esso and Shell. Euro Garages added a selection of their partner brands to these sites as part of their investment plan, which caused a bit of public controversy as some people preferred Esso's Costa and Shell's Deli2go offerings over Euro Garages' new food partners Greggs and Subway.

Euro Garages merged with EFR Group in 2016, creating EG Group, a brand name which was soon introduced to their catering areas. These became known for their black-painted buildings (when not a new-build glass frontage).

Euro Garages were the first operator to introduce Starbucks on the Go into their filling stations, replacing Coffee Nation in June 2013.

Their rapid expansion included developing a number of sites next to busy motorway junctions, including Markham Vale on the M1 and Frontier Park by the M65. These are often part of what are known as 'New-to-Industry' sites. Most of these aren't signed from the motorway (which would bound them by more regulations), but instead they rely on being highly visible. New government regulations, announced in 2022, made it impossible to open any more sites like this unless there is a barrier between them and the motorway; it is still acceptable practise on A-roads.

Beyond Fuel

EG Group logo.
EG Group branding on the wall of one of their services, introduced in 2018.

Euro Garages' strategy continued, taking in large services such as Monmouth, including its lodge. They purchased motorway forecourts from more established operators who wanted to focus on retail.

Euro Garages started building new Starbucks buildings, usually drive thrus. Mostly these were alongside petrol stations they already owned, but some were not.

In December 2016, it emerged that Euro Garages were looking to take over Little Chef, and they purchased it on 1 February 2017. Many of these restaurants were next to forecourts Euro Garages had already acquired. During a long refurbishment process the smaller restaurants became franchises such as Starbucks or KFC, while the larger ones were eventually converted to become several franchises under one roof, resembling a miniature version of some of the busiest service stations in the country.

Euro Garages generally advertised the brand names they operate more than their own name, but in 2018 this changed and prominent "EG Group" signage was fitted to many of their new restaurants. An all-black colour scheme was applied, possibly inspired by the corporate colours required at their Starbucks branches, but creating a visible EG Group corporate image for the first time.

A brief partnership with Sainsbury's to introduce Sainsbury's Local stores didn't work out, however Euro Garages later opened small Sainsbury's On the go stores under licence within some of their petrol stations and amenity buildings. In 2020, Asda announced that EG Group will be trialling 'Asda on the Move' stores in three petrol stations in the Midlands, which was eventually rolled out to many of their forecourts.

Further acquisitions took place in 2021, including Leon, which brings EG Group closer to the restaurant and supply sectors. Leon and Asda have since been spun off as a separate operation, while they intend to sell the KFC units back to KFC.

Another potential merger came to light in 2022, as talks were reported with Couche-Tard, who operate the fuel, food and shopping brand Circle K. This ultimately didn't happen.

EG Group began rolling out 'EV Point' charging points in 2023, slightly after most of their competitors. They later announced a partnership with Tesla that would allow them to roll these points out across their estate, including at sites that are now ASDA Express.

Huge Expansion and Concerns

The building at Beacon Hill, which EG Group called "dated" and pushed to replace, but this is now Asda's responsibility.

The wider EG Group business continued to grow, acquiring thousands of petrol stations around the world. Accounts of the success of EG Group rarely mentioned that its growth was funded by a loan from the founders' previous business, Europlast, or that EG Group reached debt of £7.3 billion in 2019. Strictly speaking, we should add that there is nothing to suggest that this is going to be a problem.

Meanwhile, we did know that Europlast has a poor health and safety record, although this is a separate business.

EG Group's founders were nominated for MBEs in October 2020. The brothers are reported to donate 2.5% of their wealth every year to charity and their Issa Foundation supports local hospitals and deprived schoolchildren.

EG Group's rapid expansion has sometimes caused internal issues. After they took over Little Chef, their plan to convert most sites into a combined Starbucks and Burger King fell through; a delay that would ultimately cause them to lose the licence to Little Chef, and have to quickly invent the EG Diner brand name. While EG Group were praised for safeguarding jobs in this scenario, their policy of cloning decisions meant they would open some stores in places that would soon close, and some of these locations shut up completely during the disruption.

While EG Group was involved with the Asda takeover, a process that would cause some disruption, they would still be planning numerous potential new service areas which would then be left in limbo. High profile casualties include Stretton Point and Bridgwater, both of which would be usurped by rival service area giants Welcome Break. There was also public confusion between the two roadside brands 'Asda On The Move' and 'Asda Express', which had different functions but ultimately looked the same to the public.

EG Group co-founder Zuber Issa eventually left the company to focus solely on 'EG On The Move', who had taken over the few EG Group forecourts which weren't offloaded to Asda, as well as Cooplands, some Starbucks stores, the company charging point network and many unfulfilled planning applications.

EG Group Services

EG Group operate a wide variety of petrol and catering facilities across the country. There is only one which is officially signed from the motorway network:

There is another large service area close to the motorway network which resembles a motorway service area, but is not signposted from the road (and therefore not regarded as official):

Supporting Facilities

EG Group do not provide the fuel at the following services, but they provide some catering alongside other operators' facilities. This list show only services which are signposted from the road.

Former Locations

EG Group used to operate forecourts at the following official service areas:

Closed Services

EG Group used to operate at the following official service areas, before their facilities either closed or transferred to new owners:

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