Honest Burgers enjoys sales growth and targets expansion

Honest Burgers has revealed a jump in sales this year as the burger chain unveiled ambitious growth plans, despite battling higher costs.

The company, which runs 39 restaurants in England and Wales, said it generated £30 million in revenues over the first half of the year.

This was about 11% higher than the same period last year on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of new restaurant openings on sales comparisons.

Furthermore, newly filed accounts for the company showed its sales surged by a fifth in the year to the end of January, compared with the prior year.

This was driven both by people dining in and ordering takeaways, according to the group.

Honest Burgers was founded in 2009 and now operates in cities including Brighton, Liverpool, London and Cardiff.

The chain is set to launch a new range of smashed burgers, loaded chips and milkshakes under plans to run new quick-service sites, alongside its restaurants.

The firm said it raised nearly £3 million through crowdfunding last year to finance the expansion.

Matt Brandon, the chief executive of Honest Burgers, said it marked “the start of our ambition to quadruple the size of our business by 2030”.

Meanwhile, the group revealed that it was squeezed by utilities inflation over the latest year, with many companies across the country grappling with higher electricity prices following the energy crisis.

Business costs were more than double those of the prior year, it said, helping stifle earnings growth.

Mr Brandon said: “We’ve had a great first half of this year, which follows a strong performance last year, showing that demand for great quality burgers at great value for money continues to grow.”