Latest news with #GuzmanYGomez
AU Financial Review
09-08-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Sushi Hub sold $200m of sushi last year. Now it wants a $1b valuation
Sushi Hub chief executive Raymond Chen has a figure in mind: $1 billion. That is the valuation the founder of the fast-growing Japanese food chain wants to reach before he considers selling a stake. That bullish target is based on ambitions that the Australian sushi chain can become the next Guzman Y Gomez, which hit the ASX in June last year and has been worth as much as $3.75 billion at its peak. Sushi Hub has gone from strength to strength, opening almost 70 stores during the pandemic due to its owners being flush with cash – unlike most traditional hospitality businesses – and it's on track to open its 200th store by year's end.
The Australian
28-07-2025
- Business
- The Australian
Fast food chain GYG is aiming for world domination
Guzman y Gomez, the Mexican-inspired fast food chain started by an American in Australia, wants to disrupt the global restaurant market and overtake McDonald's to become the best and the biggest. It's an ambitious goal, even for the $2.9bn listed company, which has become the poster-child for disruption in the fast food industry by flipping the switch on the standard quick service restaurant (QSR) formula by focusing on fresh food at low prices. The business, which opened its first restaurant in Sydney's trendy inner-city Newtown in 2006, currently operates 257 stores across Australia, Singapore, Japan and the US and this year broke the billion dollar revenue mark. Locally, GYG continues to outperform the overall QSR category, reporting 9.4 per cent sales growth, while the category declined. The Mexican-inspired fast-food business is not shy about its plans to become No 1 – it wants to open 1000 restaurants across Australia, and continue to grow its presence in Singapore and Japan, where it currently has five and 21 restaurants, respectively. GYG also wants to keep expanding in the US, where it will open its seventh restaurant soon and plans to have 15 in the next few years. The ambitious growth strategy is unsurprising to anyone who has spent time with GYG founder and co-CEO Steven Marks. The native New Yorker is bursting with passion and infectious ambition, which, along with a laser focus on quality and customer experience, has been embedded into every layer of the brand and product. 'GYG is fast food for this generation and you can see that in our revenue growth and our comp sales growth – the numbers don't lie,' Mr Marks told The Australian. 'We only have 250 restaurants, that's it. McDonald's has 30,000, Chipotle's got 4000. So we're really just getting started, even though it's been 20 years, it's just the beginning,' he said. GYG's growth strategy is grounded in its commitment to fresh food and the business claims to be the nation's biggest buyer of avocados, Roma tomatoes and free-range chickens. Mr Marks has focused on ensuring that all of GYG's food and ingredients have no added preservatives, artificial flavours, colours or 'unacceptable additives', all while maintaining great flavour and taste. He's passionate about this positioning and ensuring the brand is transparent about its food and ingredients. 'The foundation of GYG since day one is that we will never, ever compromise on the quality of our food or our people,' he said. This focus is evident in the business's unwavering focus on the customer experience and the role of its culture within that. GYG's onboarding process sees every new employee, regardless of their title, spend three days working in service in one of the restaurants. The aim is to ensure that everyone in the business has an appreciation of the customer experience, said GYG chief marketing officer Lara Thom. 'It gives you an absolute appreciation of how hard the frontline teams work, and it gives you an insight into who we work for, not who works for us.' Ms Thom has been with the business for almost a decade and runs a 40-strong marketing department with an in-house advertising agency model that enables the business to pivot and react in real time to market dynamics to engage with consumers. While she credits Mr Marks as the brains behind some of the brand's most successful marketing taglines such as 'Clean is the new healthy', and 'GYG is fast food your mom says yes to', both of which are direct quotes from him, she's crafted a global marketing strategy that not only optimises and amplifies the brand values but ensures those values are embedded in every touch point of the consumer experience. 'Clean for us was not a food trend or a campaign, it was our philosophy on food and we just happened to amplify a message that was core to our business,' she said. 'A lot of brands have their moment in the sun and then they grow up and they grow out of the demographic that they first appealed to. 'The strength of GYG is knowing exactly who we are and who we're not. And that means we will always ensure that we appeal to the generation of now, and I think that's really crucial. Our strategy is to constantly appeal to that generation so that once we have someone who loves the brand, they will grow with the brand.' To achieve this, GYG has worked to ensure it turns up within people's lives, from sponsoring school sports programs to its restaurants at university campus, and its integration with food delivery platforms, where GYG burritos rank as one of the most delivered products in Australia, as well as its own GYG app, which accounts for 21 per cent of GYG's total revenue. 'Other brands have their moment in the sun but they don't have a long-term strategy or vision. They focus on chasing revenue today, or this week, or this quarter, or next year, but the vision of what the brand needs to be in 20 years hasn't been set. They're so busy banking the dollars now, they're forgetting about what's next. For us, it's very clear what's next and what the future brings because the brand is clear,' said Ms Thom. Mr Marks agrees. 'We have a saying, 'Are you good enough to get better?' At GYG, everything's about hunger, humility and curiosity. What you see in a lot of these big traditional players, they're so arrogant and they've become very complacent. For us, everybody's on the same bonus plan, the same long-term incentive plan, this is a high-performing team,' he said. GYG's impact on the market is unmissable, but with such significant and ambitious growth plans, can the Aussie-grown business continue to shake up a category that it has already disrupted? 'Disruption isn't something we think about, it is part of our DNA,' said Ms Thom. 'It's part of our mission, the vision, the values of the company and the business. 'It's quite easy to latch on to that because it permeates throughout the entire company.' 'We've transcended being an Australian brand and we're now a global brand that just happened to start in Australia.' Mr Marks agrees. 'That's what people can't get their heads around; even as a public business, people say, how can this thing be worth $3bn? They don't realise, man, this is going to be the best and biggest.' Danielle Long Editor, The Growth Agenda Danielle Long is the editor of The Growth Agenda. She joined The Australian in 2024 after two decades covering the marketing, media and advertising industry for specialist publications in Australia, Asia and the UK. The Growth Agenda Rideshare brand DiDi has launched a provocative advertising campaign as it aims to take on Uber and grow its share of the market. The Growth Agenda The impact of AI on the advertising and marketing industry is an opportunity for the market to get back to what it does best: creativity, according to WPP global creative chief Rob Reilly.
CNA
28-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Eat, Drink, Singapore - The newest Laksa Barramundi and Mexican Street Corn on GYG's menu
Guzman y Gomez has added two new dishes to the menu: Laksa Barramundi and Mexican street corn. Justine Moss chats with Adora Chou, Director of Marketing at Guzman y Gomez, to find out why they chose these flavours, how they put the dishes together, and what's coming up next.
7NEWS
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
‘Absolutely addicted': Brisbane man reveals exorbitant amount he spent on Guzman Y Gomez in the past year
How many times can you have your favourite meal before you get sick of it? One Aussie is clearly pushing the envelope as he reveals his insane eating habits. Tyler Carroll's love for Australian founded fast food chain Guzman Y Gomez is no secret, and he has been caught up in a viral whirlwind since sharing his excessive spending habits online. The 27-year-old took to TikTok to prove that he was the Mexican chain's number one fan, revealing the ridiculous amount he has spent there in the last financial year. 'I want to show you guys how much Guzman I've eaten over the past year,' the Brisbane local said. 'We can see that I've eaten 395 times... that is an average of more than one per day. 'I will get it for breakfast, lunch and dinner pretty often.' Averaging a meal from GYG 1.4 times per day, his spending habits at the chain are unsurprising. 'That is $6500 spent at Guzman last financial year... and guess what, I'm probably going to spend another $6500 this financial year, I LOVE Guzman,' Carroll revealed. 'I love GYG, I'm never, ever getting sick of it. 'I'm absolutely addicted to GYG — its almost become a personality trait.' The most shocking revelation — he refuses to use the chain's loyalty program which could have saved him more than $400, saying 'the product is so good I want to spend full price.' With an addiction that crippling the big question on everyone's mind was — what does he order? Despite ordering 395 times in a year, Carroll said that his order rarely changes. 'For breakfast I'll typically get a bacon or a chorizo burrito in a medium meal with a iced latte — normally bacon,' he said. Loading TikTok Post 'For lunch I'll get a chicken burrito bowl, no beans, extra chicken.' 'For dinner I'll get a chicken burrito bowl, no beans, extra chicken — If I'm in a deficit I might switch it to chicken tacos or if I'm in a bulk then I might add a bag of corn chips to lunch or dinner. 'It ends up being somewhere between 2000 to 2500 calories per day and about 120 to 160 grams of protein per day.' The saga has blown up over the past few days, with fans expressing their differing opinions on Carroll's eating habits. 'You sir are living the dream,' a comment wrote in envy. 'How do you afford $6500 a year on takeaway??,' one said. 'As a stranger with no stake in this whatsoever I'm begging you to get on that loyalty program, you're stressing me out,' a sentiment many shared about the absurdity of Carroll choosing to pay full price. 'Yeesh, I wouldn't be mad if this was zambrero, not even if it was mad Mex . But Guzman , cmon man,' a viewer said trying to start one of the oldest debates known to man. 'You might as well start working there and get 50% off,' a comment pointed out. 'Wow 🤯,' former Australian NBA player Matthew Dellavedova commented on Carroll's post.
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
AFL star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan claims his ute was stolen in startling social media post - but cops know nothing about it
Western Bulldogs star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan's troubled season has suffered another setback, with the 23-year-old alleging that his car has been stolen. The wayward forward, who hasn't played a game this season while dealing with personal issues, posted a story to social media on Monday, appearing to accuse an individual of stealing his vehicle from Bay St in Port Melbourne. 'If you see this fella. Tell him drop my car back off at my house,' he posted. 'Bay Street tax is crazy,' he added, next to laughing emojis. The text was written over a CCTV image of a man wearing sunglasses and a cap, with a Guzman y Gomez advertising board in the background. Ugle-Hagan later posted a photo of a black Toyota HiLux ute. It's understood the car went missing on Monday. There's no suggestion that the allegation against the man is true, just that it was made by Ugle-Hagan. Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia that they 'couldn't see any car theft incidents at this location' with the details we provided to them, said they couldn't find a record of the alleged theft being reported and asked for help getting the 'victim' to send them details. Ugle-Hagan fronted the Dogs' playing group last week in a move that could open the door for the troubled forward to return to action this year. He also took part in a light training session but could still be weeks away from a possible playing comeback at VFL level. The 2020 No.1 draft pick recently opened up about the dire problems that saw him visit a health retreat in northern NSW in an effort to get his life and career back on track. 'All the noises actually sent me to a rehab facility for my mental health,' Ugle-Hagan told Mitch Robinson and Rhys Mathieson on the Rip Through It podcast. 'It got to a point where I had to give my car to a mate so I couldn't drive, I just didn't trust myself driving. 'There were times when I would think about – to be honest with you – just not even worth even living. 'I went through a struggle where I didn't want to leave the house. I hit rock bottom, and found basement. 'Definitely (there were suicidal thoughts). Suicidal thoughts would come pretty frequently. 'Especially when I felt like I was on my own the whole time. The way I was isolated and put out in public.' The young footy star says the health retreat has changed his life. 'It takes balls to talk in a group but once you do it, it is f**king amazing, it feels good and they have answers for you,' he said. 'You think you are alone and no one understands. 'But when you speak up and hear people's stories it makes you feel so much better hearing people's stories and knowing they're going through the same thing you are.' Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge last week raised the prospect of Ugle-Hagan resuming his 67-game AFL career with the club. Ugle-Hagan says he can't wait to get back on the field. 'I want to play footy. I can't wait to play footy,' he said. 'I want to kick a f**king goal in front of those crowds. 'I have been watching every single Bulldogs game. I have been supporting them, been watching them. 'I will go to games at the end of the year. I genuinely want to play one more (game), I want to play some games. 'It's going to be grouse.' Ugle-Hagan led the Bulldogs with a career-best 43 goals in 22 appearances last year, but has not featured at any level since the elimination final defeat to Hawthorn.
