Tortilla reports like-for-likes up 20.1% year-to-date, sees runway for growth to 200 sites: Tortilla, the UK’s largest fast-casual Mexican restaurant brand, has reported like-for-like growth of 20.1% year to date, which the company said was in line with expectations. The business outlined its investment case as part of plans to grow to 200 sites. One new site opened in the first quarter of 2022, one in April and at least seven further site openings are planned, underpinning the board’s confidence in delivering the group’s target of 45 openings by the end of 2026, the group said. Tortilla said it has successful launched a franchise partnership with Compass Group – four university locations are now trading – Brunel, Swansea, Middlesex and Sussex – with plans to open at least ten more over the next five years. The business said it was well-positioned to navigate macroeconomic pressures, supported by a strong brand, value-for-money proposition and flexible operating model. Tortilla added it has a “very strong platform for continued growth and strategic progress”. Reporting its maiden full-year results since its stock market float last year, chair Emma Woods said: “Fifteen years [after launch] we have a proven model, operating across 64 sites, and customers are increasingly favouring our food-type and brand. We always have queues when opening new restaurants which highlights the wide appeal of our offer. The current property market is giving us access to a very strong pipeline of new sites and we are confident of opening at least 45 locations over the next five years. The product is still made fresh and our central production kitchen allows us to ensure the quality and consistency of sauces and recipes. Given how well the product travels on delivery (not all restaurant food does) this is now a major and growing sales channel within the business. To date we have opened five delivery-only kitchens and plan to open circa three to four more per year going forward. Finally, the business was early to test franchising, with ten sites established across the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, through a partnership with Eathos. Tortilla has gained confidence in its franchising systems and has extended its franchisee partners to SSP and then Compass, in the UK. This ability to franchise clearly gives us further growth opportunities in unchartered locations to supplement our own expansion. For me, as chair, what excites me about Tortilla is the headroom for growth – with clear customer white space and the proven flexibility of how the Tortilla brand can present itself to customers.” The company saw a pre-tax profit of £2.3m for the year ending 2 January 2022 versus a loss of £1.7m the previous year. Adjusted Ebitda (pre-IFRS 16) increased 262.5% to £8.7m (2020: £2.4m, 2019: £2.5m). The business had net cash of £6.7m at the period end, supporting its ability to self-fund roll out plans. As previously reported in January, the business saw a 23.8% increase in like-for-like revenue, compared with the same period in 2019. Group revenue increased 79% to £48.1m (2020: £26.8m, 2019: £35.4m). Further growth was driven by the addition of seven UK company-operated restaurants and two UK franchise restaurants, taking Tortilla’s estate to 64 stores globally. During the period the company launched a partnership with Merlin Entertainments at Chessington World of Adventures, as well as opened two further sites in partnership with SSP Group at Gatwick Airport and Skelton Lakes motorway services. Tortilla opened new stores in Edinburgh, Exeter and Windsor and new delivery kitchens in Balham, Manchester and Brent Cross. Chief executive Richard Morris said: “Capping off a transformational year for Tortilla, we are very pleased to announce a record financial performance for the group’s maiden annual results following its successful initial public offering in October 2021. 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.”

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