Franco Manca owner planning further 8-10 restaurants

16-Jul-2019 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2021 at 12:26 GMT

The operator of the Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurant brands is planning to open between eight and ten further sites in the next year.

Fulham Shore says it will expand in to units that are "as compact as possible" following a strong growth in sales and customer numbers across both chains.

The company’s financial results for the year to 31 March 2019 show a rise in pre-tax profits to £1.4m, up on a £100,000 loss reported the previous year.

Revenue grew 17% to £64m, while headline EBITDA rose to £7.8m (2018: £7.4m).

Franco Manca was founded in London’s Brixton Market in 2008, while The Real Greek launched in Hoxton in 1999 and was bought by Fulham Shore's chairman David Page in 2011.

Fulham Shore now runs 16 Real Greek and 47 Franco Manca sites, after opening a net three pizza restaurants in the past year.

Since March Franco Manca has expanded to Birmingham, Exeter and London’s Greenwich with further sites lined up in Leeds, Edinburgh and Manchester.

When the Greenwich restaurant opened in April it served over 3,000 customers a week in its early days, and the Franco Manca chain took £1m net revenue in a week for the first time in July.

Page says the company is also in the final stages of negotiation on two Real Greek sites.

Writing in Fulham Shore’s most recent financial results, he says: “Much of the capital invested in the UK restaurant sector over the past five years has not been spent wisely. However, a number of restaurant businesses have succeeded and expanded over this period, The Real Greek and Franco Manca amongst them.

“Both our businesses are building customer numbers and they both continue to have significant growth potential.”