Restaurateur of the moment Alan Yau has secured a major investor (Phoenix Equity Partners) to assist in the expansion of the Busabai Eathai brand. Some 20 to 30 new branches are planned, increasing the size of the group roughly tenfold, as it spreads across the UK.
Alan Yau first came to public prominence as one of the founders of the Wagamama chain (in which he is no longer involved). Wagamama has certainly seen a dilution in quality as it has grown: it will be a major change for Yau, who remains a major shareholder, to keep Busaba’s standards up while it goes through a period of giddy national expansion.
Yau recently sold his majority interests in Hakkasan W1 and Yauatcha W1, as a prelude to the international expansion of those brands.
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