Who owns Wagamama?

Private equity does. Wagamama is owned by funds managed by Apollo Global Management, the New York private equity firm, through a chain of holding companies in Jersey.

Apollo did not buy Wagamama on its own. It bought The Restaurant Group, the London-listed company that had owned Wagamama since 2018, in December 2023 and took it off the stock market. In 2025 Apollo reorganised the group so that Wagamama now stands as a separate business with its own debt, sitting alongside the group's Brunning & Price pubs rather than underneath them.

What does the register show?

Wagamama's restaurants are run by Wagamama Limited, company number 02605751, registered at 5-7 Marshalsea Road, London. It was incorporated in April 1991 as China Diner Limited and renamed Wagamama in December 1992.

Its persons-with-significant-control register names one owner: Wagamama (Holdings) Limited, company 07556525, with more than 75% of the shares and votes and the right to appoint the board. The register for Wagamama (Holdings) Limited then names Apollo Global Management, Inc., of New York, as having significant influence or control, from 30 January 2025. Before that date the named owner was TRG (Holdings) Limited, part of The Restaurant Group.

The accounts fill in the rest. Wagamama (Holdings) Limited's annual report for the year to 28 December 2025 says its immediate parent is Waga Midco Ltd, a company registered in Jersey, and that "the ultimate controlling party is the Apollo Global Management, Inc., private equity fund". It names the parent shareholder above that as Rock Bidco Ltd, another Jersey company, "a vehicle indirectly owned by the Apollo Funds and managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc."

How did Apollo come to own it?

In two steps. First, in 2018, The Restaurant Group, then the owner of Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito, bought Wagamama for £559 million, paying for it partly with a rights issue.

Then in October 2023 Apollo agreed to buy The Restaurant Group through Rock Bidco, a company it set up in Jersey for the deal. It paid 65p a share, which valued the shares at about £506 million and the whole business, including its debts, at about £701 million. Shareholders approved the deal and it completed on 21 December 2023. The Restaurant Group had already sold its Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito restaurants to the Big Table Group in October 2023, so what Apollo bought was mainly Wagamama, the Brunning & Price pubs and a business running restaurants in airports.

What changed in 2025?

In January 2025 Apollo split the group into separate divisions, each owned by Rock Bidco. Wagamama raised £330 million of its own bonds, at 8.5% and due in 2030, through a new Jersey company, Waga BondCo Ltd. Wagamama's annual report says that since the restructuring The Restaurant Group Ltd "does not hold any investment in the Wagamama Group". The two are now sister businesses with the same owner.

In July 2026 the group sold its airport restaurants business to the Areas group. Wagamama's airport restaurants are now run under franchise.

Wagamama publishes reports to its bondholders. The latest, for the six months to 28 June 2026, was published on 8 September 2026 and says nothing about any sale of Wagamama.

How big is Wagamama?

At 28 June 2026 Wagamama ran 169 restaurants itself in the UK and Ireland and six in the United States, and had 56 more run by franchise partners in other countries, plus two in a joint venture in India. In the year to 28 December 2025 it made revenue of £480.5 million and a profit before tax of £39.6 million. Its chief executive is Mark Chambers, and Andy Hornby is chief executive of the wider group.

Who started Wagamama?

Alan Yau, a restaurateur born in Hong Kong who grew up in England. The first Wagamama opened in Bloomsbury, London, in 1992.

It has been owned by private equity for most of its life since. Graphite Capital bought into the business in the 1990s, Lion Capital bought it in 2005, and Duke Street Capital bought it in 2011, before selling it to The Restaurant Group in 2018. Apollo is its fourth private equity owner.

Is Wagamama independent?

Not by our verified independent badge, which marks a locally and privately owned business rather than a chain, franchise or private-equity estate. Wagamama is a national chain of well over a hundred and fifty restaurants, owned by an American private equity firm, so an individual Wagamama is a branch of that business, not a proprietor-owned local.

The useful label is national chain, private equity-owned. It is not a franchise in the UK: Wagamama runs its high-street restaurants itself, and uses franchise partners mainly abroad and in airports.

Questions people ask

Is Wagamama Japanese?

No. It was founded in London in 1992 and has always been run from Britain. Its menu is pan-Asian and it describes itself as inspired by Japanese ramen bars, but it has no Japanese owner.

Is Wagamama owned by the same people as Frankie & Benny's?

Not any more. The Restaurant Group owned both until October 2023, when it sold Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito to the Big Table Group. Wagamama went with The Restaurant Group to Apollo.

Is Wagamama British?

It was founded in Britain and its main companies are registered in England, but the owner is American. The profits flow up through Jersey holding companies to funds managed by Apollo.

Last checked 28 September 2026. This article uses the Companies House records and persons-with-significant-control registers for Wagamama Limited (company 02605751), Wagamama (Holdings) Limited (07556525) and The Restaurant Group Limited (SC030343); Wagamama (Holdings) Limited's annual report for the year to 28 December 2025, including its parent-company note, and its report for the six months to 28 June 2026; Apollo's offer announcement for The Restaurant Group of 12 October 2023 and trade press reporting of its completion; reporting of The Restaurant Group's purchase of Wagamama in 2018, of the sale of Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito, of the 2025 reorganisation and of the sale of the airport business; and reporting of Wagamama's earlier owners. What is not claimed: which Apollo fund owns Rock Bidco today (the fund named in 2023 was Apollo Investment Fund X); the companies between Waga Midco and Rock Bidco; the exact date The Restaurant Group completed its purchase of Wagamama; the exact year Alan Yau left the business, on which sources disagree; and a UK-only restaurant count, since Wagamama reports the UK and Ireland together. If you spot something that needs correcting, email Highstreett and we will review it.