Plans for Wagamama to reach 200 UK restaurants

The Restaurant Group (TRG) is aiming to open up to 60 new Wagamama restaurants in the UK as part of a long-term plan for the business.

In a trading update TRG said its goal was to grow the Asian restaurant chain to “a targeted 200 to 220 restaurants in the UK”, up from the 161 sites it had last year.

Wagamama is on track to open 10 new UK restaurants this year, creating around 500 jobs.

Chief executive Andy Hornby said 2023 had been a “genuinely transformational year” for the business after TRG was sold to US private equity firm Apollo Global Management for £506m.

The sale came after TRG paid rival casual dining giant Big Table Group £7.5m to take its struggling leisure arm, including the Chiquito’s and Frankie & Benny’s sites, off its hands.

TRG posted a rise in dine-in like-for-like sales across its remaining divisions last year. This included an 11% increase at Wagamama, a 10% rise at its Brunning & Price pubs, and a 29% rise in its concessions business.

Operating profit excluding the leisure division rose to £29.8m in 2023, up from £2.6m in 2022.

Pre-tax losses shrunk to £19.1m compared to a loss of £29.1m the previous year.

TRG has also taken full ownership of its Wagamama business in the United States, which it hopes to grow to 20-30 restaurants by December 2027.

Hornby said: “Whilst the consumer backdrop in the UK, USA and Europe remains challenging, we remain confident in the potential to continue growing Wagamama, Brunning & Price and TRG Concessions in the years ahead.”

At end of 2023 TRG had 58 international franchised sites in Europe and the Middle East. It expects to open a further three to five locations in the second half of the year, including its first Wagamama in India.