Rosa’s Thai Cafe (“Rosa’s”), the fast-growing London-headquartered restaurant chain, is to expand its portfolio of restaurants with the opening of three new sites across central London expected in 2016. The expansion follows a £1.8 million funding deal with Santander Corporate & Commercial.
Established in the UK in 2006, Rosa’s began as a single market stall on Brick Lane, in the East End of London. Owners Alex and Saiphin had already sold a successful Thai restaurant in Hong Kong and relocated to the UK. Saiphin, originally from Thailand, sold traditional dishes at the market stall and, off the back of strong demand, soon opened a second. In 2008, they opened their first permanent restaurant in Spitalfields, offering a highly authentic Thai dining experience, and over the past five years have opened sites in Soho, Westfield Stratford, Carnaby St, Chelsea and Islington.
The funding from Santander Corporate & Commercial, which includes a £800,000 Growth Capital Loan, will now enable the opening of a further three sites across central London, beginning in April in Victoria, then potentially Shoreditch and Brixton. The opening of these new sites will create 100 jobs over the next two years.
Santander Corporate & Commercial’s Growth Capital loans are targeted at businesses with annual turnovers of up to £50 million which have a demonstrated history of high year-on-year growth in turnover, profit or employment. The facility is part of the bank’s Breakthrough product suite, which is aimed at fast-growth, ambitious businesses.
Alex Moore, Owner and Managing Director, Rosa’s Thai Cafe, said: “The success of Rosa’s remains Saiphin’s traditional cooking: we still offer many of her original dishes. We’re really pleased to have partnered with Santander’s Growth Capital team to help us accelerate the growth of our business without the need to dilute ourselves or our existing shareholders. This is a great opportunity for us to take Rosa’s to its next level.”
Lee Alderson, Director – Growth Capital, Santander Corporate & Commercial, added: “The aspiration of the management team is to accelerate the rollout of this authentic Thai food concept. The committed funding provided by Santander under its Breakthrough programme facilitates this. We look forward to working with the management team in this next exciting phase.”