Giggling Squid's secret to scaling a Restaurant Brand.

Fantastic to see one of our clients, Pranee and Andrew Laurillard of Giggling Squid, featured in April’s edition of Casual Dining Magazine. Started in 2009 with a site in Hove, Giggling Squid has organically grown to 30 sites and is now the largest nationwide Thai Restaurant chain in the UK. Read the full article here.

We are proud to have worked with Andrew and Pranee when they were scaling the chain from three sites to ten, securing Giggling Squid funding through Asset Finance.

Commenting on the struggling high street chains, Andrew blames the usual suspects of competition, labour costs, business rents and rates for their troubles but more interestingly he blames private equity and the debts businesses get themselves into by being owned by big money.

Andrew says that he wants the business to grow at a steady, measured pace, with great quality food and service. This is not always possible when private-equity steps in, when the key driver is profit.

By avoiding private-equity and using asset finance instead, the husband and wife partnership not only managed to maintain full ownership of the restaurant but dictate its direction and uphold its quality. It’s clear to see this strategy has paid off, the husband-wife partnership now have the upper hand in talks with investment banks.