Scots entrepreneur Morgan Davies welcomed customers into his latest burrito restaurant in Aberdeen yesterday.
The new Barburrito outlet in Union Square shopping centre is the chain’s seventh in Scotland and 19th across nine cities around the UK.
Several Granite City restaurants have shut in the wake of the oil and gas downturn but Mr Davies, who founded his business in Manchester in 2005, said he was confident the local economy would soon return to good health.
He added: “I’ve a lot of friends in Aberdeen and they’ve been helping to keep our fingers close to the pulse.
“The oil and gas industry is going to come back (to better times). It is really just a question of timing.”
“Long-term, I think Aberdeen is going to bounce back. Union Square is a very strong centre and even with the recent drop-off, it continues to do well.”
The 44-year-old Barburrito founder and chief executive was born in New Guinea in the South Pacific but grew up in Linlithgow.
He said his “mission” to get more people around the UK eating freshly-made burritos involved plans for three more restaurants by next summer and a total of 25 by around the end of 2017.
Further expansion could see another outlet opening in Aberdeen, while Inverness “has been mentioned” in discussions about the chain’s future roll-out, he added.
Burritos – a type of Mexican or Tex-Mex food consisting of a large wheat-flour tortilla and filling, wrapped into a closed-ended cylinder – are challenging the humble sandwich for pride of place on lunchtime menus around Britain.
Mr Davies said he was proud to have started the “great burrito race”, with smaller independents rapidly joining the throng.
“We’re here to stay,” he said, adding: “It’s fast becoming a staple product. Mexican food is really taking off in the UK.
“Having grown up in Scotland, I was really looking forward to gaining the critical mass we needed to open our restaurants up here.”
Barburrito is backed by the Business Growth Fund, which last year helped fund the acquisition of Pinto Mexican Kitchen in Scotland and has provided funding for the chain’s growth over the past five years.
The company now has three restaurants in Edinburgh, three in Glasgow and one in Aberdeen, where the new outlet has created 20 jobs.
On the prospect of expansion to Inverness, Mr Davies said the Highland capital had “come up a few times” in talks. “We might look into it,” he added.
