Member Article

£2.6m funding feeds growth for London healthy eating chain

Launched by husband and wife duo in 2004, Abokado has now secured £2.6m funding from The Royal Bank Scotland to continue their expansion of further stores and headcount.

Mark and Lindsay Lilley were inspired to start the healthy eating retailer after an around the world spent discovering healthy meals such as sushi, noodles, soups, salads, breakfast and coffee.

The couple came across a vast amount of good value takeaway stores whilst travelling through Sydney, sowing the seed to ditch their City jobs and launch Abokado.

Abokado, which currently operate 26 stores in London, the latest one to open is Aldersgate, employs over 250 people. The retailer is set create ten new London jobs at the Aldersgate store, with more to follow as the ambitious couple, backed by private equity group Kings Park Capital, aim to open 30 stores by March 2016.

In addition, Abokado has recently welcomed Richard Zivkovic to join the management team and board as Operations Director. Richard previously worked for Pret A Manger, Costa and Be At One and is testament to the calibre of employees Abokado is investing.

Mark Lilley, Founder of Abokado, said: “We have enjoyed another year of strong growth, reporting a 33% increase in sales and a 45% increase in gross profit. We are continuing to open more stores and with the support of The Royal Bank of Scotland this is giving us the fire power to accelerate our growth over the coming years.”

Stuart Blair, Director from the Corporate Transactions Team at The Royal Bank of Scotland added, “Abokado continues to demonstrate impressive results year on year and we are delighted we can play a pivotal role in helping them achieve expansion, boost the economy with job creation and lead the way in changing food habits for City workers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .