Luke Johnson

Luke Oliver Johnson (born 2 February 1962) is a British entrepreneur.

He is a former chairman of the Pizza Express chain, the Royal Society of Arts and Channel 4.

Johnson initially studied medicine but, like Hugh Osmond, only completed the first part of the course, graduating from Oxford University with a BA in Physiological Sciences in 1983.

He began his career as a media analyst at stockbroker Grieveson Grant (subsequently Kleinwort Benson Securities).

Johnson is the former executive chairman, chairman of the remuneration committee and shareholder of Patisserie Holdings, which was the ultimate owner of the trading brands Patisserie Valerie, Druckers Vienna Patisserie, Philpotts, Baker & Spice, and Flour Power City Bakery.

In 1993, Johnson and Osmond took control of Pizza Express, with Johnson becoming chairman.

They expanded the business from 12 owned restaurants to over 250, and the share price from 40p to over 900p.

In 1996 Johnson co-founded Integrated Dental Holdings, expanding it to become the UK's largest chain of dental surgeries, with over 500 dentists.

Since 2000, Johnson has run Risk Capital Partners Ltd, focusing on private equity deals.

Risk Capital Partner's portfolio includes the directory publisher Superbrands, fashion chain East, and GRA, the UK's largest greyhound track owner.

From 2004 to 2006 Johnson was director of Dollar Financial Group Inc, a US NASDAQ traded corporation with $80m EBITDA.

He was involved in parcel delivery and maritime commerce through Nightfreight and American Port Services.

He served as a non-executive director of Elderstreet VCT plc for ten years.

Through Risk Capital Partners, Johnson was a founder, part-owner and director of recruitment business InterQuest Group plc.

Luke Johnson became chairman and part-owner of Giraffe Restaurants in 2004.

The firm was sold in 2006 for over £100 million.

Risk Capital Partners is also a former investor in advertising and design group Loewy, which was sold in 2006, and formerly a part-owner of fresh fish distributor Seafood Holdings, sold in 2010 for £45m in total.

In May 2010, Johnson became a strategic investor in Beer & Partners, the UK's largest business investment agency.

He is also a director of two theatre production partnerships, Playful Productions and Fiery Dragons, as well as director of AKA UK, a marketing agency to the live entertainment industry.

He was a non-executive director of art publisher Phaidon Press from August 2010 to October 2012.

In October 2011, Johnson became a non-executive director of Metro Bank plc.

In February 2013 Johnson became an investor and shareholder in retro confectionery retailers Hope and Greenwood, later selling the intellectual property of the brand to Honeycomb Project Management when Hope and Greenwood entered into administration in 2015.

In 2013 he stepped down as chairman, upon Giraffe's sale to Tesco for a reported £50m.

On 19 May 2014 the company was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market.

Risk also held a stake in car park technology provider APT controls until 2014.

Johnson calls himself a "projector", in line with the 17th century term for a man involved in many different businesses.

He is currently the Chairman of Gail's bakery and Brighton Pier Group, among other businesses.

He is a former owner of The Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey restaurants and a former part owner of Giraffe Restaurants.

Luke Johnson is the son of historian Paul Johnson and of Marigold Johnson, and the brother of Daniel Johnson.

He spent his early years in Iver, Buckinghamshire, and was educated at the state run Langley Grammar School in Langley, Berkshire, and at Magdalen College, Oxford.

While at university Johnson, together with fellow student Hugh Osmond (later founder of Punch Taverns), interviewed Sir Richard Branson on his houseboat in London for the student newspaper.

This gave the pair the inspiration to go into business and they began running the Era nightclub in Oxford.

By the time of graduation, he and Osmond were running businesses from software to clubs.

On 10 October 2018, the company's shares were suspended from trading.

An announcement included information that the board had been notified of significant and potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities, that a potential material mis-statement of the company's accounts had significantly impacted the company's cash position, and that Chris Marsh, the chief financial officer, had been suspended from his role.

Prior to suspension the business had a market capitalisation of over £500 million.

On 11 October, the company announced that there was a material shortfall between the reported financial status and the current financial status of the business and that without an immediate injection of capital the directors were of the view that there would be no scope for the business to continue trading in its current form.

The following day Johnson loaned £10 million to the business, and also provided a £10 million bridging loan to enable the company to execute a share placing, which occurred later the same day.

East went into administration in January 2018.

On 22 January 2019, the firm announced that it had collapsed into administration following failed talks with banks, which the company stated was a "direct result of the significant fraud".