Healthy eating restaurant group Tossed has announced plans to operate 25 sites by 2013, after receiving a £1.5m development fund from venture capital company Beringea.
The chain, which currently operates seven fast-service sites in Greater London serving salads, smoothies and wraps, is looking to open a further five venues this year in the capital. After that founder Vincent McKevitt said the group would start to expand nationwide.
“We are very excited about the next stage of the Tossed journey,” he said. “From an idea set up fresh out of University to help Londoners be that little bit healthier, the funding from Beringea will now enable us to continue to develop the Tossed brand and to establish ourselves as the top healthy eating destination in the Capital.”
Healthy-eating trend
Karen McCormick, investment director at Beringea who will now join the Tossed board as a non-executive director, said she was ‘delighted’ to be involved in a company achieving rapid profitable growth.
“Tossed’s offering has really captured a gap in the marketplace,” she said. “Not only is the UK becoming an increasingly health conscious nation - but we are also increasingly demanding higher quality, better tasting, ethically sourced food. We believe Tossed has been able to capitalise on this and we look forward to working with Vincent and his team on the next stage of Tossed’s development.”
Tossed will later this summer see competition arrive from vegetarian fast-service restaurant chain Otarian, which boasts a strong interest in providing sustainably and ethically-sourced food.