Company type | Public unlisted company |
---|---|
Industry | |
Founded | 2006King Street, Newtown, New South Wales, Australia | in
Headquarters | Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia |
Number of locations | 179+ (2023) |
Area served | |
Key people |
|
Products | Mexican food |
Number of employees | 3000+ |
Website |
www |
Guzman y Gomez (Holdings) Limited (GYG; /ɡʊz.ˈmɑːn.iː.ɡoʊ.ˈmɛz/) [1] is an Australian multinational casual-dining and fast food restaurant chain. It specialises in Mexican cuisine with burritos, nachos, tacos, quesadillas and other Mexican-inspired items available. Many restaurants also serve coffee through the “Cafe Hola” brand which operates during the morning.
Guzman y Gomez was established in Sydney in 2006 by New York City duo Steven Marks and Robert Hazan and operates over 200 restaurants in Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United States. [2]
In Australia, Guzman y Gomez had 171 restaurants in operation as of September 2023. [3] The business operates internationally with 23 locations in Singapore, Japan, and the United States. [4]
Guzman y Gomez was established by Steven Marks, a New Yorker who previously worked as a hedge fund manager. After relocating to Australia, he found the quality of Mexican food to be poor and decided to start a restaurant. [5] He has stated that "real Mexican is really urban, street and hot [...] Latin people are so full of energy and full of life, we wanted to bring that to Australia". [6] He took on his friend Robert Hazan, another New Yorker, as a partner. They named the business after two of Marks' childhood friends. [7]
The first store was opened in King Street, Newtown, Sydney in 2006. [8] [5] Store openings in Bondi Junction and Kings Cross followed within a year. [9] By April 2012, there were 12 stores. [6] The first Guzman y Gomez in the Melbourne central business district opened in November 2012. [10] Within 12 years, they opened 100 stores in Australia. [11]
The first international Guzman y Gomez restaurant opened at the end of 2013 in Singapore, [12] followed thereafter by the opening of a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan in April 2015. [13] In January 2020, Guzman y Gomez's international expansion continued with the opening of their first restaurant in the United States in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. [14] [15]
Marks and Hazan initially supported GYG with their own money. In 2009 they sold a minority stake to Peter Ritchie, Guy Russo and Steve Jermyn, who had previously been involved with McDonald's Australia. [5] Russo was subsequently appointed chairman of the board. [7] The board also includes co-founder Robert Hazan, 3 former McDonalds executives, Tom Cowan of TDM Growth Partners, [16] and Rokt CEO Bruce Buchanan. [17]
Investment firm TDM Growth Partners bought a stake in the company for $44 million in August 2018. [5] In December 2020, the publicly listed Magellan Financial Group bought 10% of the company for $86.8 million. [18] In May 2022, Magellan sold its 11.6% stake in the company to an entity owned by investment bank Barrenjoey Capital Partners for $140 million. [19]
Marks stated in 2019 that his goal was to list GYG on the Australian Securities Exchange. [5] In 2020 he stated that he was also ambitious to expand the company's presence in the United States, citing Australia's "antiquated" labour laws, high rents, and expensive fresh produce. [7]
In May 2023, Marks resigned as CEO due to a health scare. [20] However, he changed his mind and remained as CEO. [2] Hilton Brett was appointed co-CEO in October 2023. [21]