Azzurri EBITDA up by 21%

Azzurri Group has reported a strong performance in its 2022/23 financial year results. 

Total revenue for year ending 30 June 2023 for the Ask Italian and Zizzi operator was up by 9% to £258m and EBITDA (adjusting for the one-off VAT benefit in 2022) was up 21% to £14.3m, not including Boojum, Ireland’s Mexican fast casual operator that Azzurri acquired in June 2023.

The Steve Holmes-led business says that strong trading performances by all brands delivered volume, like-for-like revenue and spend per head increases, with Ask Italian and Zizzi continuing to take market share.

The past 12 months have also seen an ongoing transformation of Coco di Mama into an Italian omni-channel food-to-go operator.

While Boojum is currently only operating in Ireland, its first GB site will open in April in Leeds, with a pipeline of further opportunities for 2024.

Financial year highlights 

During the financial year, the Towerbrook Capital Partners-backed business increased its capital investment for future growth by £3.8m to £22.2m including 23 site transformations, four new Zizzi openings and two new Coco Di Mamas

"2023 has been a strong year for Azzurri, with growth in revenues and VAT-adjusted profits," says Holmes. "Key to this performance has been our continued investment in our restaurants and stores, the development of sector-leading technology to optimise our offer, the transformation of Coco di Mama into a national delivery brand and a relentless focus on efficiency to protect our value proposition. Most of all, however, it has been driven by the hard work and dedication of the teams in each of our businesses.

"The current year has started well with a particularly strong Christmas. Looking ahead, we remain focused on unlocking further growth opportunities at Zizzi, ASK and Coco and the further development of each of their customer propositions. We are also hugely excited at the opportunities to develop our new Mexican business, Boojum."

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