Cabana prepares to launch fourth and fifth sites
After raising £3.5m of new funding earlier this year, restaurants will open within the London Designer Outler in Wembley on 22 October, and on Upper Street in Islington in December.
The 5,000sq.ft Wembley unit will be Cabana’s biggest yet, joining Ping Pong, Coast to Coast, Handmade Burger Co., Zizzi, Nando’s, Las Iguanas, TGI Friday’s, Sugar Lounge, Frankie & Benny’s, Prezzo and Jimmy Spices at the Quintain scheme.
Both new sites will offer Cabana’s signature barbecue skewers on the menu, along with the Spicy Malagueta Chicken and Brasilian Burger; freshly grilled meats, Brasilian street food dishes like Coxinhas; and sides such as Sweet Potato Fries and Brasilian Homeslaw.
Both will also have a strong emphasis on drinks and cocktails, with an actual cabana ‘hut’ central to the design of Cabana Wembley. The drinks list will have an emphasis on ‘cachaça’ and a range of flavoured Caipirinhas - Brasil’s National Cocktail.
Funding for growth
The design of the new restaurants has been overseen by Alex Michaelis (Byron, Nando’s, Pizza East), and follows on from the original sites with ‘up-cycled” denim banquettes, fly poster walls and copper piping lights. Each will have its own ‘unique touches’, though, from Wembley’s cabana “hut” to Islington’s multi-coloured pastel painted façade.
As reported by our sister title M&C Report in August, the group, which was named the F&B Retailer of the Year at Westfield Stratford by Westfield, secured a further £2m through fundraising from existing shareholders, including Nick Leslau, and friends, plus a new £1.5m debt facility from HSBC.
Earlier in the year, Cabana signed a publishing deal with Quadrille (publishers of Gordon Ramsay and Antonio Carcluccio) for the book which comes out on May 22 next year to tie into the World Cup in Brazil. The book is set to be published in six languages and launched internationally.
