Turtle Bay reports record sales year, secures new £8m revolving credit facility: Caribbean restaurant brand Turtle Bay, which is backed by Piper, has reported a second record sales year in a row, posting sales of £90.1m in the year ended 2 April 2023, up 5.5% on the prior year. The 49-strong business said adjusted Ebitda during the year was £10.2m versus £17.8m in 2022, which was aided by various government support packages. The Nick Crossley-led brand said it had seen sector-leading three-year like-for-like growth of 32.6% compared with 2019, while like-for-like sales compared with last year were up 1.1%. During the year, the business said it repaid its entire bank and shareholder debt early leaving it in a debt free position. At the same time, it reinvested £10.3m into its estate, including four new sites and nine major refurbishments. Despite the investment and loan repayment, the business said it has plenty of headroom to grow with £3.5m in the bank and access to a new undrawn £8m revolving credit facility. The group opened its 49th site in Blackpool at the end of June and is due to open in Camden and Lincoln in the coming months. Propel revealed last week, that the business had lined up a first opening in Scotland, in Glasgow. It is understood to have applied to open at 130 St Vincent Street in a former Barrhead Travel unit Crossley said: “After the outstanding performance in the previous year, I’m delighted with another year of like-for-like growth and breaking the £90m sales milestone. We continue to push ourselves to offer our guests a unique Caribbean good time, a place to get away and relax, with exceptional hospitality. The progress we have made with our people strategy has given me the most satisfaction over the past year. We have a simple mindset: make it easy to be a team member and make it easy to be a guest. These two will forever be intrinsically linked, having a high impact on each other. Internally, we’ve focused on team well-being, equality, inclusivity and retention. Listening to our team members helps us improve. Our internal team experience survey, conducted in March, told us that we have made great progress with our ambitious people first agenda. Our ENPS score improved to 38.5%. We are equally delighted with the improvements we have made on our team stability and turnover metrics. We will close our restaurants on 5 September for our annual party ‘Bay Rocks’ to recognise and say thank you to our team for the outstanding contribution it has made to our success. Results post year-end have been in-line with expectations. We’ve already opened in Blackpool and will shortly be providing the people of Camden and Lincoln a vibrant place to enjoy rum cocktails, cool island vibes and jerk. It’s no secret that this past 18 months have been challenging for our sector. Trade has been navigated through inflation pressures, energy price volatility, the war on Ukraine, numerous industrial strikes and rising interest rates. The consumer base is feeling the pinch and people are even more selective about where they spend their money. We are acutely conscious of this and grateful they choose us – in return, we continually strive to give our guests the best hospitality experience in town. Our balance sheet strength gives us the confidence to search proactively for more locations and, excitingly, we plan to open our first site in Scotland later this year.” At the end of last year, Crossley told Propel he sees a runway of 120-plus UK openings for the brand. Turtle Bay features in the Propel Turnover & Profits Blue Book. Its turnover of £90.1m is the 85th highest in the database. The Blue Book ranks companies by turnover, profit and profit conversion, listing directors’ earnings for the past five years. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier. The single subscription rate is £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Email jo.charity@propelinfo.com to upgrade your subscription.