Giggling Squid, the fast-growing Thai restaurant group, saw turnover for the year to 31 March 2014, climb to £4.5m, up from £2.7m in the previous year, as it looks to step up its openings rate to seven or eight sites a year.
The company, which moved its banking to Barclays last year to increase its borrowing facility to £2m, saw pre-tax profit drop to £4.1k compared to £257.7k the previous year as pre-opening expenses increased to £251.9k compared to £48k in 2013.
The group, which has lined up openings in Clifton, Salisbury, Chichester and Guildford, said: “Giggling Restaurants has enjoyed another year of strong growth as we continue our journey toward being the UK’s first national Thai restaurant operator. Substantial new banking facilities with Barclays and a strong new site pipeline make us optimistic of continuing the current growth trajectory into next year and beyond.”
It is to strengthen its management team as its gears up for further growth, with the appointment of a finance director and operations director.
The 10-strong group has started the recruitment process for both roles after appointing two area managers and a development chef.
The company will open its site in in Clifton, Bristol in February, followed by units in Chichester in March and Salisbury in April/May.
“The model is to open seven further sites in the following financial year. We have been opening five a year and now we will step it up to seven or eight,” said founder Andy Laurillard.
