Patisserie Valerie
Patisserie Valerie was first opened in 1926 in Frith Street, Soho, by Esther van Gyseghem, born in Ostend, Belgium on 22 April 1900 and her husband Theophile (Theo) Vermeirsch, to provide continental patisserie to the English customers.
WWII After the premises in Frith Street were destroyed by enemy action, the shop moved to Old Compton Street.
The Scalzo brothers bought it in 1987 from descendants of the founder, and grew the business to nine branches, including shops in Piccadilly and Kensington
2006 Risk Capital Partners acquired 80 percent of the equity but some of the Scalzos would stay with the business.[1]. The chain then expanded rapidly, growing to 192 shops as of May 2017.
2008 Headquarters were moved to Birmingham
2019 The business collapsed after an accounting problem was found to be worse than expected[2]