Delivery boom: Tortilla wraps up a successful year with 79 per cent revenue surge
Tortilla, the largest and most successful fast-casual Mexican restaurant group in the UK, wraps up the year with a group revenue surge of 79 per cent to £48.1m.
Despite ongoing lockdown uncertainties, the group increased its UK like-for-like 23.8 per cent, driven by the addition of seven UK company-operated restaurants and two UK franchise restaurants, taking Tortilla’s estate to 64 stores globally.
Excluding the first quarter, which was significantly impacted by lockdowns, revenue increased by 30.3 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
This was driven by growing customer demand across all group’s eat in, take away and delivery options. Tortilla’s delivery channel went from strength to strength during the year, supported by an increase in the number of delivery kitchens to five. An important pillar of its multichannel model, delivery now comprises more than 30 per cent of total revenue.
The Mexican stores were able to weather the bumpy Omicron variant of its fourth quarter and its new partnerships with Merlin Entertainments at Chessington World of Adventures, as well as the opening of two further sites in partnership with SSP Group at Gatwick Airport and Skelton Lakes motorway services, buffered this group.
Tortilla made a London debut with an AIM float in October 2021, raising gross proceeds of £5m to accelerate growth plans.
On the results, Richard Morris, chief exec of Tortilla, said: “We are delighted to have maintained the very strong trading momentum, outlined at the time of our IPO, to achieve an excellent full year performance. This was supported by the growing appeal of our proposition and the continued expansion of the Tortilla brand. Once again, the adaptability of Tortilla’s offer supported us through the latter stages of the year to achieve a strong performance across both delivery and take away.”
“In addition to delivering this very strong financial growth, we were pleased to achieve progress against a number of strategic objectives, including the launch and development of various partnerships, and growing our estate of delivery kitchens and traditional bricks and mortar locations, to meet the increasing customer preference for delivery of high-quality Californian-inspired Mexican cuisine.”
Shares are already up nearly four per cent to 190.74p this morning.