Wahaca, the Mexican street food restaurant concept led by Thomasina Miers and Mark Selby, is developing a new, smaller concept that it hopes to launch in the next year, M&C Report has learnt.
Selby told M&C Report: “It will be a smaller Mexican concept (about 2,500sq ft), standalone, with a little bit lower spend per head. It will be a quicker experience but not a takeaway (although there may be an element of takeout).”
The group also plans to open its first restaurant outside the capital within a year – potential locations for the 6,500-7,000sq ft venue include Cardiff, Manchester, Brighton and Liverpool.
Selby said: “We were always scared of losing quality control, but we have brought people into the business with experience of running operations outside London.”
He said that the funding and structure, including a recently introduced area management layer, are now in place to take the chain to 20 to 25 sites, after which it should be self-funding.
The 11-strong group has openings lined up in Great Portland Street, on the former Brady’s Bar site Atlantic Road in Brixton and in Wimbledon for its core format.
