Alan Yau’s casual-dining Thai chain Busaba Eathai has confirmed plans to double its estate over the next three years, with two more London openings in 2014 and an extra focus being placed on further expansion outside of the capital.
Off the back of a solid set of annual financial results, the Phoenix Capital Partners-backed group - which currently has nine restaurants in London and one in Oxfordshire - will open in Shoreditch and Kingston in the summer and is now actively looking for more sites in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Bristol.
Busaba’s finance director Brigid Hughes told BigHospitality: “We’ve always held a cultish following among our loyal customers. We want to maintain this reputation and to bring the Busaba experience to even more people.
“We also want to remain the preeminent Thai brand in the UK - the plan is to grow to 20 sites within three years and we are busy developing the pipeline to deliver on that plan.Our private equity investors Phoenix (which bought Busaba in 2008 for £21.5m), along with our bankers, are hugely supportive of our roll-out plan.”
Hughes’ comments come as Busaba Eathai reports increased turnover and EBITDA for the 2012-13 financial year. Despite the challenging economic environment and ever-increasing competition in the casual dining market, the business posted a turnover of £23.78m – up by 13.2 per cent year-on-year.
“We’ve managed to improve our profitability whilst not compromising on our service standards,” added Hughes. “Since its inception, Busaba Eathai has never compromised on quality. We believe this has enabled us to retain our loyal customer base whilst continuing to attract new customers.”
Speaking of the increased nationwide competition in the Thai market with other expanding groups such as Koh Thai Tapas and Giggling Squid, Hughes said it was important for Busaba Eathai not to get complacent.
“We believe the Busaba experience is unique and the fact that we continue to have queues at our original restaurant 15 years after opening is testament to that. However, we’re not complacent about the competition and continue to innovate in order to remain ahead of the market. In fact, our head chefs are in Thailand this week, looking at the latest Thai food trends.”
