Earn the restaurant sales
Tortilla receives customer revenue and pays the restaurant's operating costs. Opening and maintaining locations also requires capital. Sales = transactions × average spend.
Reported financial summary
Selected annual observations from the historical dataset. Later interim periods are presented separately in the interactive history.
- Group revenue
- 73.989937GBP m · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-28 · 52 weeks
- Group adjusted EBITDA · pre-IFRS 16
- 1.1GBP m · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-28 · 52 weeks
- Cash from operations
- 7.429739GBP m · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-28 · 52 weeks
- Cash after leases, interest & capex
- -5.252036GBP m · 2025 · Annual · ended 2025-12-28 · 52 weeks
Definitions, sources and limitations
- Group revenue Reported. Sales recognised by the consolidated business. Company-operated sales plus recognised franchise and other revenue. Acquisitions and openings change the perimeter; not system sales. Audited statement: £73.989937m; conflicts with £73.8m announcement headline. £2.7m correction to French operating expenses/revenue accounting reduced FY2025 adjusted EBITDA; do not use earlier £3.8m expectation. Announcement headline says revenue £73.8m/+8.5%, but audited income statement, segment note and CFO review report £73,989,937 (~£74.0m)/+8.8%. Dataset uses statutory statement, discrepancy must be noted. £9.9m impairments materially affect statutory loss; noncash impairment is not current cash burn. Covenant breaches at Dec2025/Mar2026 subsequently waived; 2026 thresholds revised, original levels from 2027. FY2025 audited annual results, replacement announcement; includes FY2024 comparatives (source published 2026-07-27) — Financial review; consolidated income statement, balance sheet and cash flow; alternative performance measures and restaurant estate.
- Group adjusted EBITDA · pre-IFRS 16 Reported APM. Company measure of underlying trading performance after reversing lease-accounting effects. Company adjusted EBITDA before IFRS 16. Excludes specified costs; not net profit or cash available for debt repayment. rounded £m £2.7m correction to French operating expenses/revenue accounting reduced FY2025 adjusted EBITDA; do not use earlier £3.8m expectation. Announcement headline says revenue £73.8m/+8.5%, but audited income statement, segment note and CFO review report £73,989,937 (~£74.0m)/+8.8%. Dataset uses statutory statement, discrepancy must be noted. £9.9m impairments materially affect statutory loss; noncash impairment is not current cash burn. Covenant breaches at Dec2025/Mar2026 subsequently waived; 2026 thresholds revised, original levels from 2027. FY2025 audited annual results, replacement announcement; includes FY2024 comparatives (source published 2026-07-27) — Financial review; consolidated income statement, balance sheet and cash flow; alternative performance measures and restaurant estate.
- Cash from operations Reported. Cash generated in the operating section of the cash-flow statement. Reported net cash generated from operations. Financing-classified lease payments and bank interest still need to be paid. £2.7m correction to French operating expenses/revenue accounting reduced FY2025 adjusted EBITDA; do not use earlier £3.8m expectation. Announcement headline says revenue £73.8m/+8.5%, but audited income statement, segment note and CFO review report £73,989,937 (~£74.0m)/+8.8%. Dataset uses statutory statement, discrepancy must be noted. £9.9m impairments materially affect statutory loss; noncash impairment is not current cash burn. Covenant breaches at Dec2025/Mar2026 subsequently waived; 2026 thresholds revised, original levels from 2027. FY2025 audited annual results, replacement announcement; includes FY2024 comparatives (source published 2026-07-27) — Financial review; consolidated income statement, balance sheet and cash flow; alternative performance measures and restaurant estate.
- Cash after leases, interest & capex Calculated. Cash left after the selected recurring funding and investment requirements. Cash operations − lease cash payments − bank interest paid − total cash capex. Analytical subtotal, not company-reported or normalised FCF. Excludes interest received, disposals and acquisitions. £2.7m correction to French operating expenses/revenue accounting reduced FY2025 adjusted EBITDA; do not use earlier £3.8m expectation. Announcement headline says revenue £73.8m/+8.5%, but audited income statement, segment note and CFO review report £73,989,937 (~£74.0m)/+8.8%. Dataset uses statutory statement, discrepancy must be noted. £9.9m impairments materially affect statutory loss; noncash impairment is not current cash burn. Covenant breaches at Dec2025/Mar2026 subsequently waived; 2026 thresholds revised, original levels from 2027. FY2025 audited annual results, replacement announcement; includes FY2024 comparatives (source published 2026-07-27) — Financial review; consolidated income statement, balance sheet and cash flow; alternative performance measures and restaurant estate.
Figures use the same dataset as the interactive history, displayed in the stated units with up to six decimal places. Reporting periods are not editorial review dates. Missing values are not zero. Date definitions · Published corrections
Loading the sourced operating history…
Business overview
Tortilla Mexican Grill operates and franchises restaurants serving customisable Mexican-style meals such as burritos, bowls and tacos. It earns revenue from food and drink sold by its own restaurants and from fees and other income associated with franchise operations. Central food preparation, purchasing and restaurant operations support the delivery of its menu across the estate.
From restaurant sales to group cash
Owned restaurants earn customer sales and pay food, labour, occupancy and other costs. Franchise income follows a different model. Group overhead, leases, interest and capital spending determine the cash left after restaurant operations.
What it can affect next · second-order effects
Closing loss-making sites can reduce losses but require exit cash. Remaining sites may bear more shared overhead. Acquisitions, closures and price changes can improve headline measures without demonstrating stronger comparable customer demand.
Operating interpretation; not a forecast. Dated evidence and disclosure limits remain in the metrics and source sections.
Comparable demand → restaurant costs → estate changes → group cash
The restaurant flywheel.
An operating hypothesis to testAffordable, customisable Mexican meals, served quickly. The loop works when repeat demand turns restaurant capacity into cash that can fund the next improvement.
- 01 · Prepare
Central kitchens & recipes
UK and Lille central kitchens support consistent ingredients, simpler restaurant preparation and coordinated purchasing.
Production & cost evidence ↗ - 02 · Serve
Food, value & convenience
Good meals and reliable service give customers a reason to return and recommend the brand.
Demand & repeat visits ↗ - 03 · Sell
More meals per restaurant
Grow transactions, use spare capacity and add locations where demand supports the economics.
Sales & like-for-like growth ↗ - 04 · Improve
Lower cost per meal
Higher volume can spread fixed costs and strengthen purchasing terms. Waste and logistics still matter.
Margins & productivity ↗ - 05 · Generate
Cash after running costs
Sales must cover ingredients, staff, delivery fees, rent, central overhead and upkeep.
Cash after leases & investment ↗ - 06 · Allocate
Improve, repay & expand
Use available cash for food, technology, debt repayment and locations with repeatable economics.
Restaurant count & returns ↗
↻ More meals through a productive network can strengthen the loop. More restaurants alone do not prove it.
Earn franchise income
Partners operate restaurants under the brand. Royalties and other franchise income can support expansion with less direct capital. Partners need viable economics, training and consistent supply.
Why an extra burrito can be valuable
With spare capacity, rent and much of the equipment cost are already committed. Another meal adds ingredients, packaging and potentially labour or delivery fees, while contributing to those fixed costs. At capacity, another shift, production line or site may be needed.
Cost control means earning an adequate contribution from additional sales while protecting food quality and service. The central kitchen advantage is central ingredient production for restaurants; a delivery-only cloud kitchen is a different format.
Analytical framework · Company operating model ↗
Operating history
Annual 2021–2025 · GBPOpen each chart for exact values, definitions and sources. Missing observations remain gaps; acquisitions, pandemic disruption and reporting changes limit comparisons.
The latest picture · H1 2026
One first-principles check
Why might more meals through existing restaurants generate a better return than the same extra sales from new restaurants?
Reveal the reasoning
Existing restaurants can spread rent, equipment and some staffing costs over more meals. New restaurants add fit-out costs, rent and teams. The advantage depends on spare capacity and demand. Closing a weak restaurant helps only when the avoidable cash losses outweigh exit costs and effects elsewhere in the group.
Track each link.
Open a metric for its purpose, calculation and limits. Compare annual results with annual results, and first halves with first halves.
Financial amounts are GBP millions unless labelled. Losses are negative. H1 2025 uses the restated comparison; unavailable values are never zero.
Period comparisons
Selected operating disclosures
Dated operating observations supplement the historical financial series.
Cash after rent is essential.Operating cash flow under IFRS 16 can appear positive while material lease payments sit in financing activities. Check the cash bridge before concluding that operations can fund expansion or repay debt.
France, closures & the growth test.
A smaller estate can produce a stronger business. The test is the cash outcome for the whole group.
France must prove repeatable restaurant economics
The restructuring combines stronger trading in converted restaurants, lower overhead and exits from weak locations. These are separate sources of improvement; a fall in losses cannot all be attributed to closures.
The next tests are restaurant profitability after local costs, coverage of French central overhead and cash left after rent and upkeep. Profitable restaurants can then provide evidence for franchise partners.
Realised closure savings are not isolated
The public disclosures do not establish a complete cash exit bill or a separately reconciled realised cash saving for French closures. Closure costs and subsequent group cash flows have different scopes and should be read together.
£573k group closure expense
The group also recorded £403k restructuring expense. France's £423k combined exceptional and pre-opening costs are a different scope. None is a complete cash exit bill for all French closures.
How closures affect group cash
Closing a restaurant can remove its local cash losses, but exit payments, continuing lease obligations and costs transferred elsewhere can offset that benefit. Group closure expense is not a complete cash exit bill for French locations.
Compare disclosed exit cash payments and continuing obligations with subsequent changes in operating cash flow, lease payments and central overhead. The reported figures do not establish a complete closure payback.
What would confirm the closure case?
- A complete cash exit bill, including payments still due.
- Recurring cash losses removed from the closed sites, excluding allocated costs that remain.
- Net effects on the kitchen, distribution, purchasing and other restaurants.
- Subsequent cash results that support the expected benefit.
Closing stores can reduce losses while France remains unprofitable. The decision to exit weak locations and the decision to expand France need separate evidence.
Questions carried forward from the research
Central kitchens: advantage to demonstrate
Shared preparation can support consistency and simpler staffing. It also adds fixed capacity, distribution costs and dependence on a production site. Economies of scale require enough meal volume.
Track: cost per meal, utilisation, waste, service reliability and consolidated margins. Public reporting does not provide a complete utilisation or unit-cost series. The model alone does not establish a durable moat.
Kiosks, add-ons & service
Ordering technology and valued extras can raise average spend or improve throughput. Higher baskets only help if customers keep returning and the extra contribution exceeds implementation and running costs.
Track: transactions, basket size, labour hours per order, repeat visits and cash payback. Selected company examples cannot establish the result across every restaurant.
Delivery economics
Delivery reaches customers beyond walk-in traffic, but commissions, promotions and packaging absorb part of the sale. A different channel mix can change margins even as revenue grows.
Track: channel sales and incremental contribution after fees. Total delivery growth does not prove how much demand is new or how much shifted from another channel.
Expansion & acquisitions
Chilango in 2022 expanded the UK estate; Fresh Burritos in 2024 brought French operations. Acquisitions add revenue alongside investment, integration work and potential losses. Track cohorts through maturity, including closures and unsuccessful sites.
Track: cash investment per location, restaurant cash profit, payback, maintenance spending and return on capital. Test franchisee profitability as well as Tortilla's royalty income.
Debt & cash discipline
Adjusted net debt excludes lease liabilities. Both bank funding and restaurant lease commitments constrain flexibility. Positive EBITDA does not establish cash available for repayment.
Track: cash after rent, interest and capex; bank facilities; covenant disclosures; and contractual commitments. A reduction in accounting depreciation does not itself free cash.
Accounting & management execution
French reporting errors make the corrected comparisons and reconciliation to cash especially important. Review how management's dated promises compare with subsequent results.
Track: reported execution, controls, recurring exceptional costs and whether incentives reward returns and cash alongside expansion. No management-quality rating is inferred from sales growth.
Evidence & accounting.
A dated research snapshot. Financial statements take priority over earlier chat estimates and models.
Restated comparisons and source conflicts
How to read the measures
- Group revenue versus system sales
- Group revenue includes consolidated restaurant sales and franchise income. System sales also include customers' spending at franchised restaurants. They are different scopes and must not be added together.
- Adjusted EBITDA before IFRS 16
- The company's alternative performance measure removes specified costs and reverses lease-accounting effects. It is neither statutory net profit nor cash available for debt repayment.
- Cash after leases, interest and capex
- Net cash from operations, less reported cash lease payments, bank interest classified as financing, and purchases of tangible and intangible assets. This analytical subtotal excludes acquisitions, interest received, loan movements and asset-sale proceeds. It uses total capex because a reliable maintenance/growth split is unavailable.
- Net debt
- Company-defined adjusted net debt excludes IFRS 16 lease liabilities and includes certain cash-in-transit adjustments. Lease liabilities remain separate obligations. Read definitions for each period; a negative net-debt value means net cash.
- Like-for-like growth
- Compares a company-defined set of existing restaurants. It can reflect prices, transaction volumes, delivery mix and promotions. France's converted-store growth is a subset, not growth for the whole French division.
- Restaurant growth and returns
- Period-end restaurant counts are not the average trading estate. Revenue divided by the closing count is not a reliable unit-volume measure, and EBITDA divided by opening investment is not a complete cash return.
Disclosure gaps
Complete comparable series for transactions, repeat visits, average spend, kitchen utilisation, food cost per meal, labour productivity, maintenance-only capex and new-site cash payback are not established here. Their absence is explicit. Missing historical observations remain unavailable.
The business explanation covers kitchen scale, restaurant economics and closures. The page does not forecast French profitability or future free cash flow.
About this information centre
Historical data and business explanations only. No forecasts, price targets or stock recommendations.
This site explains company operations, financial statements and key metrics. It provides no buy, hold or sell recommendations, investment ratings, price targets, personal investment advice or invitation to invest.
Reported facts, calculations, management explanations and editorial interpretation are distinguished. Historical results do not establish future outcomes. This educational scope is not FCA approval or legal certification.
Source checks, corrections and remaining gaps are included in the 19 October validity review.
Tortilla / Company economics · Reviewed 18 October 2026 · GBP unless stated.