Barburrito taps into the Nandos generation
FROM its launch in Piccadilly Gardens in December 2005, Barburrito has flourished into the UK’s first national burrito brand, with four Manchester locations, three in London and more across Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and Cardiff.
It has just opened at Newcastle’s Metrocentre, with Derby next. Five more will soon follow in Scotland after Barburrito bought five-strong chain Pinto Mexican Kitchen last year.
Davies, himself brought up in Scotland, is excited by this, he tells me as we sit down to chat in the Woodstock pub, near his South Manchester home. “We saw that Pinto were good operators with good locations. Like us, they’ve got a loyal fan base.”
The food Barburrito offers couldn’t be simpler: chicken, beef, pork or veggie burritos, with a choice of beans, veg, salad and sauces. The same ingredients are on offer in tacos or a salad. There’s a few sides available. That’s about it.
What was new was the method. High quality food, served fast was a new concept, and it raised eyebrows at first. Although informality is ubiquitous now – this is the Cheeky Nando’s generation – it wasn’t always thus.
Davies, an affable, yet focused man, said: “When we started, fast casual was a very hard sell. People asked: ‘Where’s the waitress? Where do I sit?’ It took us a while to get the message across.
“Nowadays, the general public are more flexible and knowledgeable about dining out and understand the trade-off between plated service and price. And other products use a similar three-step style of building your meal. The days of the boring sandwich are gone – those people are having to reinvent themselves.”
The explosion in street food, encouraged by city marketing bodies looking to animate their public spaces and create “experiences”, has been a trend.
Some cart operators trade up to permanent addresses, while others are happy to carry on roving, with the low overheads that involves. Has the growth of street food been a threat, or helped to broaden palates?
“We welcome competition,” said Davies. “There are lots of innovative operators out there – people can operate at low volume and still make money. But I’ve not seen anyone affect our sales. We’ve grown like-for-like sales every year since we started, usually in the high single digits or double digits.”
Barburrito has moved up in the world. In 2009, to support its expansion plans, it welcomed in venture capital backing. The Business Growth Fund, set up in the recession by the big banks to support smaller businesses, is now the group’s major investor. Barburitto has an annual turnover of £14 m and Graham Turner, who formerly ran Tragus (parent group of Café Rouge and Bella Italia), is its third chairman.
Davies said: “The BGF is very supportive, we meet regularly and they believe, like us, that Barburrito will become a major, nationally successful chain. They supported the Pinto deal as part of our stated objective to hit 25 stores within the next 24 months – we’re up to 19, so we’re well on track.”
Is doing this corporate stuff a major step-up for a food service entrepreneur who started with a takeaway?
Davies replied: “I’ve got used to it. We’ve now done a number of investment deals and they’re fantastic for the business. It’s time-consuming, but we keep all our meetings focused and to the point.”
By Neil Tague. The full version of this article was originally published in Big Issue North, available from vendors across the North West and Yorkshire and Humber (£2.50).
