Tortilla Mexican Grill - That’s a wrap!

Tortilla Mexican Grill’s (Tortilla’s) continued ‘massive’ outperformance of the UK restaurant market despite, and because of, COVID-19 is further endorsement of the company’s difference to most UK hospitality businesses. Tortilla’s ‘transformational’ 2021 saw 24% like-for-like sales growth versus 2019 (adj. pre-IFRS 16 EBITDA more than trebled) followed by similar momentum in Q122 and heightened optimism about growth opportunities accelerated by the pandemic, which echoes that of big brother Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) in the US. With its popular value offering in tune with the times and scalability shown by burgeoning partnerships with SSP Group, Compass Group and Merlin, Tortilla is on track for 45+ company-run openings by end 2026 (c nine this year) backed by a cash-generative model, low site capex and c £14m liquidity at December 2021.