Wagamama looking to open more delivery kitchens across the UK

Wagamama is looking to open further delivery-only sites across the UK to target customers out of reach of its restaurants.

The noodle chain launched a dark kitchen in London's Balham in December and also runs sites in Hackney, Bow, Peckham and a regional location in Leeds.

It has retained Colliers International to find sites that can cater to customers outside the catchment area for delivery from its 131 full-service restaurants.

Georgia Pirbhai from Colliers' Industrial and Logistics team said: "We have already identified and launched locations in strategic sites across Greater London, with the latest Balham premises bolstering our coverage in that area.

"[Our] 2021 acquisition strategy will continue to seek sites in Greater London as well as focusing on other regional towns and cities where there is demand yet little access for customers to obtain deliveries from existing restaurant sites in the region."

Wagamama, which is owned by the Restaurant Group (TRG) has managed to weather the storm of the coronavirus pandemic despite restrictions on eat-in dining.

In April TRG, which also owns Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito, unveiled a survival package which included adding £15m to Wagamama's credit facility, taking it to £35m.

Wagamama's chief executive Emma Woods said in December that the noodle chain saw ‘strong performance' in delivery and eat-in sales for Q3 of 2020.

She added that there was "real confidence" the business can return to market-leading performance once coronavirus restrictions are relaxed.

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