Barburrito Mexican restaurants to hit London by storm

The ambitious plans come as the Manchester-based business, founded by entrepreneurs Morgan Davies and Paul Kilpatrick, has this week secured £3.25m of equity investment from private investor Business Growth Fund (BGF).

“We have a proven concept, an excellent product and a strong brand,” said Kilpatrick. “BGF’s capital will help support our expansion into London and the rest of the UK. We’re hugely excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for us in this rapidly growing sector.

“The investment will allow us to create approximately 250 new jobs. We’re actively looking for high density locations, populated by office workers, shoppers, tourists and students with a busy lunch and some weekend trade.”

Great progress​

Having started as a single unit in Manchester and the UK’s first ever burrito bar, Barburrito now operates from six sites in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds, employing over 100 people.

Fellow co-founder Davies added: “We have made great progress since starting as a single site in 2005.  In the last two years we have opened three new stores and doubled the size of the business. 

“We believe that the time is right to roll out our award winning formula to a national customer base and we knew that we needed additional funding to achieve this.”

Following the investment, Colin Hughes will join Barburrito’s board as a non-executive director, bringing additional experience in the food retail sector.  Hughes was previously on the boards of Pret a Manger and EAT, where he was involved in rolling out 100 new sites.

Mexican food​

The deal is BGF’s fifth in three months, making it one of the most active investors of long-term growth capital in the UK and bringing its total investment in fast growing companies to £37 million to date.

Mexican food is one of the fastest growing sectors in the restaurant industry at present.​ Just yesterday, BigHospitality reported on the quick success of high-end Mexican concept La Bodega Negra​ in Soho.