Ambitious UK expansion plans for Taco Bell following £29.4m injection

Franchise business Caskade Caterers is planning an ambitious expansion of Taco Bell across London and the south west.

The company recently opened the American Tex-Mex restaurants in Southampton and Poole, will open its next site in London this summer, and plans to open another three to five stores every year over the next few years.

Caskade Caterers has secured a £29.4m funding package from HSBC, which includes a £13m loan, £10m revolving credit facility and £6.4m commercial mortgage from HSBC.

The move will see Caskade Caterers diversify its existing UK and international enterprises, which includes 30 KFC restaurants across Dorset, Sussex and Kent and three hotels in Fiji.

Caskade Caterers chief executive Hamid Ali said: "Continuing to drive expansion is top of our agenda… We'll be looking to build our portfolio through acquisitions, purchasing new sites and exploring new franchisee options in our target regions."

Victoria Ritchie, HSBC's area director for London City Corporate Banking, said: "We have forged a good relationship with Hamid… His new, fast-paced expansion plans for the UK show great ambition, with multiple sites planned in the next twelve months."

There are 25 Taco Bell sites in the UK. US restaurant group Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell as well as KFC and Pizza Hut, first tried to establish Taco Bell in the UK in the late 1980s with three sites in London and one in Birmingham. The restaurants were closed by the mid-1990s, but Yum Brands relaunched the brand to the UK in 2010.

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