Thai restaurant group, Giggling Squid has reported another year of strong growth with turnover up by 56% to £18.4m for the year ended 2 April 2017.
At the year end, the brand was operating 20 sites, 6 more than prior year with openings in Bury St Edmunds, Berkhamsted, Norwich, Warwick, Wokingham and Farnham.
Whilst new sites generally traded well ahead of expectations, 10 out of 11 established restaurants have ended ahead of the previous year. This pattern of growth has continued into FY18.
During the period, Giggling Squid became the UK’s number one Thai restaurant brand by number of sites.
Trading performance was very strong for the year with revenues increasing 56% from £11.8m in FY16 to £18.4m in FY17, and group EBITDA was £2.1m, a 50% increase on prior year of £1.4m.
Giggling Squid was ranked #57 in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 fastest growing companies last year, its second year in this league table.
In FY17, Giggling Squid launched a ‘Little Tapas for Little People’ menu, a new drinks menu including a very successful cocktail offer and plenty of exciting new dishes.
For the current trading news, the group’s 22nd restaurant opened last month, which was the group’s first London site in Wimbledon Village, a further 3 openings to take place early 2018.
Andy and Pranee Laurillard, co-owners of Giggling Squid, said, ‘Last year was great and this year is even better.
'Our team has really taken shape and achieved some amazing results – our existing sites remain ahead of last year, our new sites have traded well and our margins have improved considerably despite serious headwinds.
'Tentacles are about to spread once more, with new openings in fantastic locations. We feel very positive about our future!’