Mexican restaurant group Tortilla secures £2.25m from Santander for new openings
Mexican fast-casual restaurant group Tortilla has secured £2.25m in bank financing and has announced plans to open three new UK restaurants.
The new debt facility, from Santander Corporate Banking, will sit alongside its existing £3.5m investment from Quilvest Private Equity, secured in December 2011.
The three additional sites will be at The Crown Estate's 460 Strand site in central London, adjacent to Trafalgar Square; at Bluewater in Kent; and in Hammerson's WestQuay Shopping Centre in Southampton.
The Bluewater and WestQuay locations will be Tortilla's first restaurants outside of London. The company is understood to be in discussions for several additional locations.
Brandon Stephens (pictured), who founded Tortilla in 2007, said: "The financing from Santander provides us with the capital necessary to execute our objectives for growth and will allow us to pursue a number of exciting expansion initiatives within the M25 as well as outside of London."
Tortilla was recently named by Zagat as the Top Mexican Restaurant in London as well as a Best Buy. Robin Rowland, chief executive of Yo! Sushi was recently appointed a non-executive director to the board of Tortilla, while Rob Lucy, formerly of twentyretail, was made head of property acquisitions.
Tortilla claims to be the UK and Europe's largest fast-casual Mexican restaurant group, with 11 locations launched or in development.
Mexican chain Tortilla strengthens management as it prepares for expansion >>
Tortilla gets £3.5m backing to expand as it reveals plans for new sites >>
By Neil Gerrard
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