A Durham entrepreneur has taken over a restaurant in the city from his parents.
Zen, an Asian fusion restaurant on Court Lane, is under new ownership following the purchase for an undisclosed sum by local entrepreneurs, Zak Newton and Sam Gadd.
Trading as Zen UK Holdings Limited, the pair purchased the business which has been successfully owned and operated by Sam’s parents, Nigel and Deborah, for almost 15 years.
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When it launched in 2008, Zen quickly established itself as the north’s first high-end Thai/pan-Asian fusion restaurant. It operates with an entire Thai kitchen team and a menu that is mostly authentic Thai-inspired dishes, balanced by a western twist.
Zak and Sam are no strangers to the hospitality industry, currently owning two other venues within Durham – Tango on Elvet Bridge and the Rabbit Hole on Hallgarth St, which also offers distinctive pan-Asian fusion dishes.
They have both been involved in Zen in some capacity since 2020 and with its acquisition now complete, having seized on many different retailing concepts prior to Covid, the two entrepreneurs have their sights set on future expansion, as Zak explains:
“Before the lockdown we operated several business concerns – from barbers’ shops and tattoo studios to blockchain and social impact concepts - but after taking a step back, we realised that time is on our side and some of the best opportunities are within our area of expertise.
“We are fortunate in possessing complementary skills – Sam is great at identifying future trends and opportunities while I am best at making them happen. Additionally, Sam is a chef and a very good one at that, so we are now at a stage where our efforts are best spent away from the venues, enabling us to come up with new menus and concepts and ensuring the business infrastructure is running smoothly.
“Since we have been involved with Zen, we have taken the business digital with our takeaways and reservations managed primarily online, as well as streamlining and improving systems - the most recent innovation being our revamped Fire Garden, which officially opened last month and is proving very popular with our customers.
“We already have our eyes on another establishment within Durham City and we are currently working on taking the Zen concept to a second city-centre location. Then there is our Zen2go takeaway model, which is set to go into its own venue soon. So, the future is looking very exciting indeed.”
The sale of Zen has enabled Nigel and Deborah Gadd to invest their energy and vast knowledge of the restaurant business into a new venture and far from retiring, they have recently acquired Vennels café in Durham city centre and already started work on transforming the venue and its menu.
Swinburne Maddison worked with accountancy and business advisory firm, Azets, to conclude the deal, and Swinburne Maddison’s Alex Wilby said: "We hope our work simply marks the start of a longer-term relationship with Zak and Sam, which may involve us in other areas of legal practice as the pair build their business empire in the future, which I am confident will be a huge success.”
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