The chief executive officer of UK restaurant chain Gourmet Burger Kitchen Alasdair Murdoch, tells Robert Anderson about how he turned the brand around, its global and regional expansion plans and whether there is any truth to the rumours it is about to be sold
When Alasdair Murdoch took over New Zealand-inspired United Kingdom restaurant chain Gourmet Burger Kitchen he had a substantial task ahead of him.
Prior to the £30.4m ($47.5m) acquisition of GBK’s parent company Clapham House in 2010 by the owner of Nando’s British unit Capricorn Capital Partners, the burger brand like many in the country was feeling the ill effects of the financial crisis.
Weekly trading conditions were described as “volatile” and, following the announcement, Nando’s said that “significant investment and time” was needed to reinvigorate Clapham House’s businesses.
As Murdoch expresses with typical British understatement, the GBK chain was in a “bit of a mess” following the deal.
“It had two and a half years of sales decline and it took us about a year to get things moving,” he says.
Fast-forward to the present day and the chief executive officer, who is visiting the company’s regional franchise partner in Dubai, has an altogether different story to tell.
Trading conditions have improved and the brand is expanding rapidly, with ambitious plans for the UK and Gulf Cooperation Council, having successfully navigated a consumer shift to more premium casual dining options.
“GBK is one of the best performing brands. It is a little bit below the radar and it’s not as trendy or fashionable as the other chains that one hears a lot about, but we’re growing harder and faster than all of our competitors both on a like-for like basis and a new store basis.
“If you look at our business performance in the UK, we’ve had 20 quarters, five continual years now, of like-for-like sales growth every single month,” he says.
“At least two thirds of that is being driven by new customers. So we’ve created a very solid business.”
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