Wahaca

Wahaca (phonetic spelling of the Mexican State of Oaxaca) is a UK restaurant group selling Mexican-style street food, co-founded by Thomasina Miers, with 13 branches in the United Kingdom.

Wahaca logo
Wahaca, Islington, 2016

History

Miers opened the first branch in the West End of London in August 2007, focused on Mexican street food.[1] In October 2008 a second Wahaca opened at Westfield in London.[2] Two further branches in Canary Wharf and Soho followed in 2011, and Wahaca launched its first mobile street kitchen. In 2012 it opened its Top One Wahaca Southbank Experiment. In September 2015 Wahaca opened its first restaurant in the north west, based in Manchester.[3]

On July 16, Wahaca launched its "at home" range.[4][5][6]

In October 2016, Wahaca opened its first restaurant in Scotland, in central Edinburgh.

Wahaca mobile street kitchen, 2012

As of December 2017, Wahaca had 25 branches,[7] up from 19 branches in September 2015. They also have three bars and two street kitchen locations.[7]

In November 2017, Wahaca used the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead as the basis for a three-day festival to promote their business.[8][9][10]

In August 2020, Wahaca announced that it would close ten of its 28 restaurants due to a downturn in business caused by the coronavirus pandemic.[11] As part of the restructuring the following Wahaca restaurants were permanently closed: Bluewater (Kent), Bristol, Brixton (London), Charlotte Street (London), Chichester, Manchester, Liverpool, Kentish Town (London), Southampton, and St Paul’s (London).[12]

In November 2020, Dick Enthoven, the billionaire owner of Nandos bought a £4m majority stake in Wahaca's parent company, Oaxaca Ltd. Wahaca entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in which shareholders and lenders agreed to write off £25m of dept while injecting £5m into the restaurant chain.[13][14]

Awards

Wahaca has won awards for its food, design, and sustainability.[15] In 2016, co-founders Mark Selby and Thomasina Miers were voted restaurateurs of the year by Caterer Magazine.[16]

In 2016, Wahaca became the first restaurant group in the UK to be certified as carbon neutral.[17]

Norovirus outbreak

In November 2016, Wahaca restaurants primarily in London, but also in other locations including Manchester, were suspected as the source of a norovirus outbreak leading to 1000 people falling ill, with symptoms including vomiting.[18] In response, Wahaca temporarily closed nine outlets and apologised to those who had been unwell.[19]

Employment rights

In June 2019, Wahaca was criticised for making serving staff pay part of the bills of customers who left without paying. Following a backlash on social media, they changed the policy.[20]

See also

References
  1. "Wahaca". Caterersearch. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  2. "Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers to launch second Wahaca". Caterersearch. 15 September 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  3. "MSK Southbank". Wahaca. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  4. "Mexican Sauces & Kits - Tesco Groceries". www.tesco.com.
  5. "At Home Range". Wahaca. July 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  6. "Wahaca launches new product range". CST - Call Systems Technology. 19 July 2016.
  7. "Locations". Wahaca. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  8. "Wahaca to mark Day of the Dead with festival and morning rave". campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  9. "Why this year's Day of the Dead is more relevant than ever". Evening Standard. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  10. "How Wahaca is using Day of the Dead to celebrate Mexico's 'vibrant culture'". campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  11. "Wahaca to close 10 sites as it considers CVA". bighospitality.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  12. "Mexican chain Wahaca to close more than a third of restaurants". expressandstar.com. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  13. "Nandos owner takes £4m majority stake in Wahaca". caterlyst.com. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  14. "Wahaca acquired in rescue deal by Nando's owner". bighospitality.co.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  15. "Awards | Wahaca". Wahaca. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  16. "Catey Awards 2016". www.thecaterer.com. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  17. "Thomasina Miers' Wahaca restaurant group goes carbon-neutral". Foodism. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  18. Morgan, M; Watts, V; Allen, D; Curtis, D; Kirolos, A; Macdonald, N; Maslen, E; Morgan, D; Saei, A; Sedgwick, J; Stevenson, J; Turbitt, D; Vivancos, R; Waugh, C; Williams, C; Decraene, V (2019). "Challenges of investigating a large food-borne norovirus outbreak across all branches of a restaurant group in the United Kingdom, October 2016". Euro Surveill. 24. doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.18.1800511. PMC 6505182. PMID 31064638.
  19. "Wahaca: Hundreds ill due to 'norovirus outbreak'". BBC News. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  20. "Wahaca changes eat-and-run policy after waiter asked to pay part of bill". BBC News. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
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