Guzman y Gomez CEO wants to sell Mexican food to Mexicans

The chief of Australian-made burrito chain Guzman y Gomez has hopes to serve Mexican food to Mexicans one day when the company eventually turns its sights back to international expansion.

Guzman y Gomez founder and CEO Steven Marks said the business, which saw “explosive” growth during the pandemic, will push into the American market when it has finished its ambitious domestic expansion.

Guzman y Gomez co-founder Steven Marks hopes his Aussie chain will one day be a hit with in Mexico.Credit: James Alcock

The fast food chain has some 140 stores across Australia, with plans to open more than 30 stores every year over the next 15 years - “almost all” of them in a drive-through format - to grow this figure to 600. The company is looking to hire 4200 people over the next six months to help drive its growth.

Once the domestic expansion is well underway, Mr Marks told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age the business would “make a huge investment in the US” and “one day” open stores in Mexico.

“We’ll take care of the US first, then move south,” the New York-born founder said, explaining he was “very tied to Mexico” even though he wasn’t of Mexican descent.

“The Mexicans that live in Australia love Guzman y Gomez,” he said. “There’s no reason not to bring it back to Mexico one day.”

Guzman y Gomez, Wollongong: CEO Steven Marks hopes to add 30 stores every year for the next 15 years.

While most of Guzman y Gomez’ stores are based in Australia, the casual dining chain also has 18 restaurants in Singapore and four in Tokyo. In the US, it so far runs one drive-through restaurant in Naperville, Illinois.

While dine-in restaurants, cafés and other hospitality venues have been battered by COVID-19 lockdowns, fast food outlets performed remarkably well. KFC Australia’s revenue ticked up 4.4 per cent to $433.7 million in the first half year of the 2022 financial year.

Guzman y Gomez generated $418 million in revenue in the 2021 financial year. While Mr Marks said the company was “very profitable”, a spokesperson later declined to release profit figures.

Mr Marks said Guzman y Gomez was “built for” the COVID-19 crisis and attributed its growth to a focus on clean and nutritious product offerings.

“What happened is, for years, no one wanted to be labelled fast food. For us, that was the biggest market to disrupt,” he said.

“You can serve high-quality food at traditional fast food speed … Who said fast food had to be bad food?”

The chain had plans to float on the ASX in September 2020, but the pandemic and an $86.8 million investment by fund management firm Magellan put these plans on the backburner - though Mr Marks indicated a float was still part of its long-term plans.

“I love the idea of it. But right now, we’re in no rush,” he said. “The company is very healthy. When the time is right, then we will.”

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