Turtle Bay, the four-strong Caribbean restaurant chain led by Las Iguanas founder Ajith Jajawickrema, has successfully secured more funding to help with its expansion plans to open 20 additional sites over the next three to five years.
The new investment, which comes less than a month since a financial agreement with Santander was secured, comes from Piper who will now inject £6m into the company. Piper is also the backers of Loungers and founder of Pitcher and Piano.
“I’m delighted to be working with the Piper team again,” said Jaya-Wickrema – Piper previously also delivered a six-times multiple on its investment in Latin American restaurant group Las Iguanas. “Their deep-rooted experience and understanding of the sector has meant we have been able to complete this deal in a very tight time frame.”
Turtle Bay opened its first outlet in Milton Keynes in 2011, followed by restaurants in Bristol, Nottingham and Southampton. It plans to open a further 20 restaurants by 2018.
This £6m cash injection is the third to come from Piper’s £107m ‘Fifth Fund’, with Loungers and Be at One the previous two investments.
The fifth Turtle Bay restaurant is already in the pipeline, with a site in Leicester’s Highcross shopping centre set to open this summer.