La Tasca, the Simon Wilkinson-led chain, is understood to have completed a restructure that will see its existing backers invest additional funds to aid further investment in its current c50-strong estate and back an accelerated acquisition programme.
The new funding backs the management team led by Wilkinson and comes after an ”extremely strong” trading period which has seen like-for-like UK EBITDA grow by over 58% year to date.
It is thought that the group, which also includes the six-strong La Vina chain, is already working on an expansion pipeline for the next few years and has already secured a unit at the Metrocentre in Gateshead for an opening in 2015.
The group has opened its first new La Tasca restaurant for a number of years in Marine Point, New Brighton, earlier this summer
It has also completed the refurbishment of 10 restaurants in the last eight months, which are thought to have shown collective good sales growth versus the group’s core estate
Wilkinson said: “We are delighted on the back of a very successful trading period, which has seen like for like UK EBITDA grow by over 58% year to date, to be investing and expanding the business as we believe Spanish cuisine has an amazing future both within the UK and Internationally. We have great people and plans in place to ensure we exploit this exciting opportunity to the maximum.”
Comment by M&C Report editor Mark Wingett
Next February will be the third anniversary of Simon Wilkinson’s appointment as chief executive of La Tasca, in that time he has brought a broken business back from the brink of extinction and placed it on an even keel and, where investment has taken place, growth.
Although unsaid, it was felt that the decision on the new funding and the size of the investment would be key in whether Wilkinson and his management team would stick around to build on the fruits of its labour. The positive comment above suggests boxes have been ticked and they can now get on with the task of refurbishing the existing estate and expanding both the core brand and where possible sub brand La Vina.
Earlier this summer, Wilkinson told M&C Report that company sales were now “north of £50million” and like-for-like EBITDA for quarter one this year is up over 60%. He also indicated that if the new investment was secured the business would gain critical mass quite quickly in the next two to three years. However, it will take a long-term approach to future sites.
He said: “My view differs from that of a lot of the industry, particularly regarding shopping centres. The great new developments attract a lot of people but it won’t last forever. The owners are getting too greedy adding in too much F&B and simultaneously putting up rents. You can’t keep giving units to F&B instead of retail; that is a very short-term strategy. We don’t need as a big a square footage as some other operators so we will look at smaller opportunities that other operators wouldn’t, like private restaurants that might be struggling, or sites in secondary locations and up and coming areas that other restaurants might not go to yet.”
The group’s Trafford Centre site is the only major refurbishment the group has done so far this year and is now believed to performing well with comparable weather, showing consecutive weekly growth since September after the hot summer versus wet summer last year.
With its invested sites clearly out performing core estate, an accelerated programme in the new year of minor capital investment will see its estate upgraded by May. Questions remain over the success of the group’s first unbranded site in Brighton, the roll out of which for now is believed to be on hold.
Earlier this year, I suggested that the group stood at a crossroads. By securing new funding it has started on the path to what it hopes will be further growth. The popularity of fledgling operations such as Iberica and Salt Yard, plus the appearance of tapas menus at Loungers, TGI Fridays and in countless pubs suggest that there remains an appetite in the market place for a national chain of Spanish-led restaurants. La Tasca for all its past travails and with new investmebt on board remains the best positioned to match that desire.
