Pieminister secures fresh funding to continue expansion drive

Bristol’s Pieminister is opening three new restaurants following a £1.65m investment package from HSBC.

The first of the three restaurants to be announced is Brixton Market in London, which opened this month, with other sites being considered in the north of England for early 2018.

The brand will also use the funding to invest in new equipment which will increase capacity at its kitchens in Bristol and improve efficiency, helping to offset the cost price inflation it has experienced over the past 12 months.

The new wave of investment comes 18 months after the brand secured a £1.4m funding package from the bank to open five new restaurants in 2016 and 2017.

“Pieminister has an impressive track record, which meant we were quickly able to put a finance package in place which has already helped secure and fit-out the first of three new restaurant sites in the UK, as well as improve other processes across the business,” says James Shepherd, HSBC’s area director for Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

“It is one of many Bristol businesses that have taken advantage of this year’s £500 million lending fund launched by HSBC to support organisations across the South West.”

Pieminister was co-founded in 2003 by brothers-in-law Jon Simon and Tristan Hogg. The company operates sites in Bristol, Bath, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Leeds, Oxford, Stoke-on-Trent and London.

The brand has set its sights on operating 30 sites by 2020.