Mowgli Street Food experienced an “extremely strong return to trade” post the full lifting of Covid-19 related restrictions in July this year.
In its latest accounts filed at Companies House, the Nisha Katona-led restaurant group said that sales were “significantly up” on pre-pandemic levels.
“Like-for-likes remain materially above pre-Covid levels across all segments of the business.”
Turnover for the year ended 31 July 2021 was down £2.7m, to £8.6m, with adjusted EBIDTA of £459k, compared to £505k in 2020.
Loss for the year, after tax, was just under £1.18m, compared to a loss of £1.15m in 2020, while net debt stood at £1.7m – a decrease of £0.2m on the prior year.
Tight control of overheads allowed the company to trade at a profit despite the severe impact on its business in the year, it said.
The company operated 12 restaurants at the year end, up two on the prior year following openings in Leeds and Cheshire Oaks, with openings in Cheltenham and its first in London since the year end.
The group has a pipeline of five further openings, including restaurants in Edinburgh, Bristol, Brighton and Preston.
Speaking to MCA earlier this month, Katona said she built Mowgli in a way so she would have breathing space.
“I was always judicious about rents and haemorrhaging overheads and am clear what the walk-away point should be.”
She insisted this strategy means nothing has changed about her expansion plans following the pandemic. “Ideally I’d like to open four a year, but they’ve got to be the right sites…I look to where there’s a gap in the market that Mowgli would fill,” she says.
