Boojum hits record £27m in annual sales

Belfast-founded burrito bar chain Boojum has reported a record £27 million in annual sales across its island of Ireland operation.

The food company, which was last year acquired by the Azzurri Group, saw turnover increase by around £3m to £26.98m in the year ending April 23 2023.

That represented a growth rate of 27% over a three-year period.

But the group’s pre-tax profit slipped 8% to £2.2m year-on-year, with the directors citing inflationary pressures and costs linked its strategic expansion.

It comes as the Burrito bar chain opened a new outlet in Tallaght pn February 23, its ninth in the Dublin area.

It took the Boojum portfolio to 16 burrito bars across the island.

Alongside Belfast and Dublin, Boojum has also opened in Cork, Limerick, and Galway.

The group had 439 staff on its books at the end of April 2023, an increase of 63 people on 2022.

The first Boojum burrito bar was originally set up in Belfast by John and Karen Blisard in 2007.

In 2015, David and Andrew Maxwell partnered with Dublin-based Renatus to buy the company.

TowerBrook Capital Partners, which owns the Azzurri Group, acquired the group on June 19 2023 and set its eyes on expanding the franchise across Britain.

They retained David Maxwell as managing director.

Azzurri, which also owns Zizzi, Ask Italian and Coco Di Mama, is currently preparing for Boojum’s attempt to break the English market.

Its first outlet on the other side of the Irish Sea is due to open in Leeds during April.

Accounts for the Boojum group published by Companies House show sales in the burrito chain’s four Northern Ireland restaurants dropped by £270,000 to £8.5m in the last financial year.

That was offset by a £3.2m uplift in sales across the Republic, which rose to just under £18.5m.