Tortilla wraps up first year as listed company with record results

Fast-casual Mexican restaurant group Tortilla has reported a 79.5% increase in revenues to a record £48.1m for the year to 2 January 2022, its first year as a listed company.

Despite Covid-related site closures and restrictions, strong performance across its existing estate and the addition of new sites saw like-for-like revenue increase 23.8% compared with 2019 and a pre-tax profit of £2.26m against losses of £1.69m the prior year.

This strong trading momentum has continued into 2022, with like-for-like growth of 20.1% this year to date. The group was valued at £70m last year ahead ahead of its debut on AIM, part of the London Stock Exchange.

The group had net cash of £6.7m in January, supporting its ability to self-fund its roll out plans, with seven new sites opened last year and 10 further openings planned this year, with a target of 45 new sites by the end of 2026.

As well as a new partnership with Merlin Entertainments to open at Chessington World of Adventures, Tortilla also entered a franchise partnership with Compass Group to roll out across UK higher education campuses, with four locations trading and plans to open at least 10 more over the next five years. The group is exploring the opportunity to expand into Europe in the medium term.

Richard Morris, chief executive of Tortilla, said: “During the year we made excellent progress in delivery of our long-term growth strategy. We opened further sites in line with our UK roll out plans, expanded our delivery kitchen estate to fulfil growing customer demand, and both extended and launched franchise partnerships which introduced the Tortilla brand to even more customers across the UK. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our teams both in the UK and internationally for their commitment and hard work during the year.

“This strong financial and operational momentum has continued into 2022 and underpinned by our flexible model, value-for-money offer and clear long-term growth strategy, we are very excited to capitalise on the growth opportunities presented by the post-pandemic landscape. We remain confident of delivering our exciting plans for Tortilla to the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Tortilla has 68 sites worldwide, comprising 52 in the UK operated by the group, three franchised to SSP Group in the UK, four sites franchised to Compass Group UK & Ireland and nine franchised sites in the Middle East. Tortilla was founded in 2007 by Brandon Stephens.