The Citation Group is delighted to announce the acquisition of Food Alert, a leading independent compliance business, providing solutions for the UK hospitality industry.
Food Alert was established in 1990 by Constantine Costa and Peter Christopher-Ohrt, with David Bashford joining the company in 1999 and becoming Managing Director in 2015. Today Food Alert has an 800-strong customer list, strategically reinforcing the Group’s 40,000+, UK SME customer base. Food Alert provides its customers with access to its proprietary online safety management system (FACT), which further complements the Group’s technology offering and is supported by a highly experienced team of over 50 food safety professionals.
The Citation Group will work with David Bashford and the rest of the team to build on the strong sector position the business has established. The investment will enable Food Alert to continue its vision to be the first choice safety partner to the UK hospitality sector, through a continued focus on service standards, breadth of support offered and leadership in environmental health matters – all enabled by further investment into the company’s subscription-based software solutions.
As part of The Citation Group, Food Alert will continue to develop its highly valuable, technology-enabled, compliance solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. The Citation Group will assist Food Alert to enter its next stage of growth by leveraging the Group’s functional expertise, both commercially and technologically. Food Alert’s offering will form an important part of The Citation Group proposition.
The Citation Group CEO Chris Morris commented on the acquisition:
“Food Alert is an excellent business that we have been tracking for a number of years and we are delighted that they have decided to join The Citation Group at what is an exciting time in the development of the business. We look forward to working with and supporting David and the rest of the team over the coming months and years as they continue to build on the strong sector position they have successfully established.
This acquisition is the 8th we have made in little over 2 years which is testament to the strength of the M&A engine we have built, the success we have had to date in integrating these businesses and the continued support of our investors at Hg.”
Constantine Costa, Founder of Food Alert commented:
“Joining The Citation Group is the perfect next step in the development of Food Alert. Having established the business nearly 30 years ago, I was very keen to ensure that any future owner would share the same values as our business. We are confident that we have found that in The Citation Group.”