Mexican restaurant Wahaca to open fifth site at Westfield Stratford

08-May-2011 - Last updated on 09-May-2011 at 15:11 GMT

Wahaca has plans for 15 Mexican restaurants in London

Mexican fast-casual restaurant chain Wahaca is to open its fifth restaurant at London’s newest shopping centre Westfield Stratford, which is due to launch in September this year.

The 150-cover Wahaca will be one of 50 restaurants located within the 1.9m sqft shopping centre, which is also the gateway to the London Olympic Park.

Mark Selby, who co-founded the chain in 2007 with the 2005 Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, hopes the restaurant will be the first of two to open before October. The pair are currently in talks with “a couple of landlords” over their potential sixth restaurant, and plan to ultimately operate 15 sites within Greater London altogether.

“Westfield Stratford is a bit of a strange place in the sense that you are in the middle of nowhere, but the rail infrastructure and buses are second to none," he told BigHospitality. "Westfield have a great reputation behind them and we’re really excited about this. It will be one of the best UK shopping experiences out there for a long time.”

The Westfield Stratford Wahaca will continue Selby and Miers’ vision to create environmentally-friendly venues, and will be assessed and rated under BREEAM guidelines. The site will feature sustainable fittings and materials, including LED lights and a heat recovery system.

Speaking on Wahaca’s planned expansion for the capital, Selby added: “We’re looking all over the place for second site, within boundaries of London. We think we can get to 15 odd restaurants in London so we have a wide net at the moment.

“We are talking to two or three landlords about sites just now but ultimately we’d like to do one more heavy shopping centre/ heavily- populated shopping area, and then some more funky sites in areas like King’s Cross or Southbank.

Food & beverage offer

Other restaurants so far confirmed to open at Westfield Stratford include Giraffe, GBK, Las Iguanas, Strada, Jom Makan, Pizza Express, Nandos, Wagamama and TGI Friday – many of which also operate at Westfield London in White City.

The shopping centre will also feature a food market called the Great Eastern Market, with 16 speciality food producers and a cookery demonstration kitchen.

Want to work at Wahaca? View all available jobs for the restaurant group on BigHospitality Jobs by clicking here.