We have been hinting at this for months, but we can finally announce that Lunya has become an Employee Owned Trust - a very similar model to John Lewis.

Both Elaine and I are now 60, we're not getting any younger! Elaine's blood cancer (Myeloma) is becoming active again and needs more treatment to get it back into remission and we need to plan our retirement. Becoming staff owned is a great way for us to recognise and reward our wonderful staff and in effect gift them Lunya via way of a trust - we are now an Employee Owned Trust.

Whilst Elaine has already taken a significant back seat due to health concerns, I am still leading and running the business overall, and will do so for many years to come. But this process sows the seeds for my eventual retirement in 7 years time and at the same time keeps the business strong and focused on the very best of Catalunya and Spain. It keeps it safe for our staff and provides a way for our staff to benefit from its future success, under the future leadership of Tom Cavanagh, our Operations Director and Dave Upson, our Executive Head Chef. Here we are pictured at our document signing with our solicitors from Brabners.

There is so much more to tell you about this. Click on the link below for all the details. We hope to continue to see you whether that's in the restaurant, in the deli, at an event, shopping online or engaging on social media. You, our customer base, are the life-blood of the business and we cannot wait to continue serving you for decades to come. At a time when there is not much good news coming out of the hospitality sector, this bucks that trend and is great news for our business!

Peter & Elaine xx