The four operators below missed out on this year’s Zolfo Cooper Profit Tracker list, which tracks companies with the fastest growing profits in the UK’s eating and drinking out sector, by falling outside the scope of the methodology. However, they are expected, with a fair wind, to make their bows next year. Their stories highlight that, whatever sector you are in, be it pub or restaurant, wet-led or food-led, a strong management team – together with a focused and quality offer – remain the main drivers of growth.
Faucet Inn
Sites: 22
Latest turnover: £9.2m
Growth: 44.1%
Key personnel: Steve Cox, chief executive
Backer: Privately-funded
Background: Faucet Inn, the London-based company led by Steve Cox, has returned to the acquisitions trail over the past 12 months, picking up a former Bramwell Pub Company site in the process. The company, which has long been a mooted takeover target for – among others – Greene King, has also looked at group packages to enhance its estate in the capital and is believed to have run a rule over the former Convivial Pubs portfolio last year. It is to open a new £1m site in Stratford, east London, later this year. The site will be called Neighbourhood. It recently entered into a joint venture with Downing Pub EIS Fund called Craft Beer Pub Co.
Harris+Hoole
Sites: 30
Latest turnover: c.£1m
Growth: n/a
Key personnel: Nick Tolley, CEO and co-founder
Backer: Tesco holds minority stake
Background: Harris+Hoole, the Tesco-backed chain, aims to double its estate in the UK this year, with first sites lined up in Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Kent, plus launches in West Sussex. The group has lined up openings in Reading; Ely, Cambs; Slough, Berks; Maidstone and Sevenoaks, Kent; Braintree, Maldon, Romford, Southend and Great Dunmow, all in Essex; and Burgess Hill and Chichester, in West Sussex, for this year. In addition to the ongoing expansion of the brand via Tesco’s vast property portfolio, Tolley says that, in the next 12 to 18 months, once he is confident there is a suitable version of the operating model, the group is likely to make its transport-hub debut.
Wahaca
Sites: 11
Latest turnover: £22.5m
Growth: 18.4%
Key personnel: Mark Selby and Thomasina Miers, co-founders
Backer: Capricorn Ventures
Background: Wahaca, the Mexican street-food restaurant venture, is on track to make its regional debut in the next 12 months and add a further three sites to its 11-strong core London estate. Its next site under its core brand will open in Wimbledon, south-west London this month on the former Coal site it acquired at the turn of the year, although planning issues are delaying further openings in Brixton and Great Portland Street. It recent secured a new debt facility with RBS and has the funding and structure – including a recently introduced area management layer – in place to grow to between 20 and 25 sites.
Barburrito
Sites: 11
Latest turnover: £4.6m
Growth: 9.8%
Key personnel: Morgan Davies, founder and
chief executive
Backer: Business Growth Fund
Background: Barburrito, the Manchester-based Mexican-style casual-dining chain, has a further five to six sites lined up for this year. The group received £3.25m investment from the Business Growth Fund last April to help it expand from six to c.18 sites over the next four years. The company opened its latest site and its third in London last month in Holborn. Its first unit in the capital, at Paddington Station, is trading above expectations and trading across the group’s estate was ahead by 10% to 15% against last year. The chain hopes to add sites in Liverpool and Birmingham, plus units in London over the next 18 months.
