Five Guys closes in on south west debut
Our sister title M&C Report understands that the fast-growing chain has agreed to acquire the Café Rouge unit, which sits right in the heart of the city’s Cabot Circus shopping scheme, with an opening planned for later this year.
Earlier this week, M&C Report revealed that the Sir Charles Dunstone-backed group had secured three new sites, including its first in Scotland.
The 11-strong group, which is set to open in Solihull this month, is understood to have the Pesto restaurant site in Glasgow for an opening later this summer.
The company is also believed to have exchanged on the Pizza Hut units in Harlow and Cambridge Leisure Park, for openings later this year.
The brand, which launched in the UK last July, opened its latest site in Lakeside’s new food court last week.
The group, which is well funded by both American and high net worth UK investors, is believed to have a number of sites in legals for openings in aimed towards the end of this year, and is believed to be eyeing sites in Leeds and Croydon.
It has a further site lined up for the new £18m extension of Whiteleys shopping centre in Fareham.
Five Guys expansion
Five Guys, established in the US in 1986, opened its first UK site in the former Long Acre bar in Covent Garden to long queues on Independence Day 2013.
The burger brand, which is named after the five brothers who run it, has since pursued aggressive expansion both inside and outside the capital.
The administrative costs of moving to the UK hit £4.58m last year and the business reported a loss of £3.89m in the period to 29 December, but the company said its sites were trading on target.
It hopes to have 20 sites across the UK by the end of this year.
