Thai Leisure Group (TLG), which operates 11 restaurants and four cocktail bars across the north of England and Scotland, is looking to expand into London after a year of growth.
It has reported like-for-like sales growth of 9% over the last year, with current turnover, annualised on existing sites, of £25million.
TLG has two main Thai restaurant brands: Chaophraya, which embraces fine dining, and the new Thaikhun, specialising in Thai street food. It also operates cocktail bars at some of its sites including Palm Sugar in Glasgow and Palm Sugar Lounge in Liverpool.
Chef director Kim Kaewkraikhot, who owns the business jointly with Martin Stead, is keen to continue growing the business, with new sites being sought for the Thaikhun brand in the coming months. London is a main focus as are other tier-one city locations.
Kim said: “It is an exciting time for us at the Thai Leisure Group with a number of new openings planned over the coming months. Due to our successful growth in the north of England and Scotland, we think it’s time to look towards the capital as a priority, but we are also looking at sites across the UK so that as many areas as possible can finally have access to our authentic Thai offering.”
TLG debuted its new street food concept Thaikhun in Spinningfields, Manchester (pictured), in May this year followed by a second in Union Square in Aberdeen in July. As with its Chaophraya sites, they were designed by Jonathon Morgan Design Associates.
Kim said: “It’s great to be able to provide such a unique experience to diners with the launch of our street food restaurant Thaikhun, delivering Thai eating just as you can on the streets of Bangkok.”
The brand has a number of UK sites in mind for its expansion plans and will be announcing developments across the coming months.
Coming from impoverished beginnings in a remote Thai village, Kim ran a successful street stall in Bangkok before coming to the UK to open the first Chaophraya in Leeds city centre in 2004.
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