Tortilla

About Tortilla

Tortilla is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain founded by Brandon and Jennifer Stephens in London in 2007. It has circa more than 100 sites globally. In 2019, Tortilla expanded its footprint to include some of the UK’s most prominent travel hubs, including Euston train station, through a partnership with SSP Group.

In October 2021, Tortilla opened a site in Chessington World of Adventures through a partnership with Merlin Entertainments, and the following month, floated on the London Stock Exchange. In November 2022, it opened three branches in a week - in Manchester, Croydon and Leicester - for a new company record.

The company also signed a 14-site franchise partnership with Chartwell Universities (part of Compass UK & Ireland) and expanded its delivery options by signing a partnership with Growth Kitchens in the summer of 2022. It also launched its first loyalty club membership scheme, Tortilla Club. Following its acquisition of Chilango, Tortilla has also started rebranding several former Chilango sites in London.

In March 2023, chief executive Richard Morris told Propel the company is ready to push franchising more. He said: “Following our success with UK franchising, we are excited about the opportunity to utilise a similar low-capital approach and establish a greater international presence.”

Tortilla made its Northern Ireland debut in July 2023 with a restaurant in Belfast and said it is looking to grow to 200 UK sites by the end of 2026. In February 2024, chief executive Andy Naylor also said the business is set to explore regional expansion partnerships to supplement its focus on “grade-A company-owned store openings”.

In June 2024, Tortilla acquired Fresh Burritos, the largest fast-casual Mexican restaurant group in France, for a total consideration of €3.95m (£3.34m). The acquisition includes 13 company-owned leasehold restaurants and the rights to the Fresh Burritos brand and network of 19 franchised locations.

Stephens told Propel: “We’ve been trying to get onto the Continent since 2018. This is one of the most important moments in the history of this business. It is about potential franchise opportunities throughout Europe, and this provides a perfect platform for it. This isn’t just a French deal - this is a European deal that we're really looking at.” Chief executive Andy Naylor added that Fresh Burritos’ central production kitchen in Lille means Tortilla can target countries like Germany and the Netherlands.

In August 2024, Tortilla launched its first app as it looked to streamline its loyalty scheme, and the following month, Naylor said Tortilla is in a “unique position to own the growing European Mexican food segment”. In October 2024, Tortilla expanded its partnership with SSP with a new five-year agreement, which will see Tortilla’s presence in SSP-operated locations triple in size in the UK, expanding from six to 18 sites.

Brandon Stephens returned as chief executive in February 2026 and told Propel that the business is “upping its game” in the face of a wider and more competitive pool of operators in the UK. He said: “We’re upping our game. The US chicken concepts have brought with them more firepower and marketing muscle. At the same time, the new wave of hospitality businesses, including Farmer J, WatchHouse and Salad Project, have raised the bar in recent years, with incredibly refined concepts, decor and product quality. We’ll be accelerating our evolution to keep up with a market that’s elevated dramatically and become increasingly competitive over the last few years.”

In July 2026, Stephens told Propel its recent strong performance has been driven by “going back to basics”. He said: “We've spent a lot of time refocusing on what has always made Tortilla special: serving fresh, generous California-style Mexican food, delivered consistently with a great guest experience.

“Over the past year, we've invested across the entire customer journey - improving recipes and ingredient quality, refining our menu, introducing a more structured innovation pipeline and continually enhancing the in-store experience.

“Digital innovation has also been an important part of that journey - from self-service kiosks and app improvements to our multi-channel ordering experience, we’ve made it easier and more convenient for customers to enjoy Tortilla however they choose.

Why franchise with Tortilla

• ✓Tortilla has a clear strategy to grow the business primarily in the UK through the roll out of new sites, franchising opportunities, cloud kitchens and strategic partnerships. The primary objective of its growth strategy is to increase its UK presence, and over the next five years it is targeting the launch of circa 45 new sites. This expansion will comprise traditional sites as well as smaller sites that support its delivery channel and cloud kitchen sites. Tortilla partners with SSP Group and Eathos to franchise the Tortilla proposition in across UK transport hubs, and in the UAE, respectively. With transport hubs becoming an increasingly important channel to access consumers, it will further expand its franchise model, supported by CPU and established operational infrastructure. There is also an opportunity to establish a broader presence internationally, and the opportunity of taking the brand into Europe will be reviewed by the company in the mid to longer term. In April 2022, chief executive Richard Morris said the business plans to begin exploring opportunities to expand into Europe by the end of this year – which may start with a delivery kitchen launch. The company’s estimated capital expenditure per site (excluding delivery-only kitchens) ranges from £250,000 to £425,000 depending on the size of the unit, site condition and storefront requirements, and the group aims for a 35% minimum target investment hurdle for its return on capital employed. Chair Emma Wood said: “Tortilla has gained confidence in its franchising systems and has extended its franchisee partners to SSP, and then Compass, in the UK. This ability to franchise clearly gives us further growth opportunities in unchartered locations to supplement our own expansion.” In January 2023, chief executive Richard Morris told Propel
• ✓the company was continuing to “push very hard” on its franchise relationships. He said: “We’re very good franchise business, we perform extremely well with SSP and Compass. We are continuing to grow with those guys, and we are starting to have some conversations around European opportunities. We’ve got a good business in the Middle East, and that’s performing well with our franchise partner Ethos. Franchising is a very good way of growing your brand quite quickly at relatively low capex. That’s a big focus for us.”