Record Profits for Wahaca

The Thomasina Miers & Mark Selby Mexican restaurant group Wahaca, has seen its turnover rise 54% as its profits increase more than sevenfold as it posted its latest annual accounts.The group, which currently has 12 locations around London, was founded in 2008 and recorded a turnover of nearly £22.5m for the 53 weeks to 31 June 2013. Meanwhile, pre-tax profits were up from just over £60,000 in 2011/12 to nearly £417,000 for 2012/13.

Commenting on the results, Selby said: “Since Thomasina and I started Wahaca in 2008, our focus has always been on introducing fresh, honest Mexican flavours to the UK market and overturning the prevailing Tex-Mex stereotypes. As the market education process has developed we’ve seen a sharp rise in demand for the product, and this is reflected in Wahaca’s bottom line figures. We’ve strictly adhered to our principles as regards quality and sustainability of ingredients and materials in our restaurants (all our meat is British and sourced from farmers we know, our fish has the highest sustainability accreditation and our restaurants are ever more eco-friendly) because we believe that our values are shared and appreciated by our customers. We’ve been proved right on this and accordingly, new openings have been welcomed as site-specific restaurants, and created positive feelings about engaging with the brand".

Mexican/South American food has seen quite a renaissance of late and has had extensive ranges created in Tesco and other Supermarket chains.