Since the Americans arrived in Spain, the hamburger phenomenon has taken hold in the country. And Venezuelan Andoni Goicoechea has made the most of it.
Andoni came to Spain to do his MIR fleeing his home country, and ended up creating one of the largest hamburger chains in Spain. How did he do it? By paying attention and being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of opportunities.
Every day, after leaving work, he had a beer, at the same time, in the same place. This allowed him to observe and listen. When the owner decided to close, Goicoechea did not hesitate to take over the business to offer his hamburgers. To differentiate himself from the competition, he incorporated top quality ingredients, thus providing the seal and personality of a national Spanish product.
They have been growing steadily since 2012
In 2012 he opened the first Goiko Grill, then another and another, since then they have not stopped growing. Despite the bad comments and the people who assured that it would not go far, the numbers improved month after month. As a result, 42 Goiko Grills have opened throughout the country.
It has now tripled its profitability, exceeding its own expectations, with a turnover of more than 60 million euros and an operating profitability of more than 23%.
Goiko Grill's success did not fall from the sky. During the past year, more than 3.8 million customers were served in its restaurants. They also have a payroll of 900 employees, all of whom are company-owned and not franchised.
Goicoechea does not take a step without thinking twice, and even the location of its stores is planned and analyzed in terms of pros and cons. "Our maxim is to achieve the connection and the phenomenon of social encounter that occurs when Goiko is installed in urban neighborhoods, which is reflected in a successful insertion rate 100% of the time," said Goicoechea.
They needed to keep growing
The expanding company needed to continue to grow, so it hired Arcano Investment Bank, which at the beginning of the year began working to grow the company. To move to the next level, Goiko needed a financial engine to execute its plans.
Two investors, La Tagliatella, a restaurant giant with more than 16,000 locations in 16 countries, and Louis Vuitton's (LVMH) private equity fund, L Catterton, were vying for the burger restaurant for which the amount exceeded 150 million.
In the end it was L Catterton who won the dispute and bought, for 150 million euros, 80% of the shares of Goiko Grill. With the support of L Catterton as an investor, they plan to accelerate their development in Spain and internationalize the concept.
Goiko Grill "has inspired interest from several investors and we have decided to partner with L Catterton because it shares our vision and dedication to providing our customers with a high-quality experience," said Goicoechea.
The entry of L Catterton does not imply any changes in the management team and Goicoechea continues to lead as CEO, maintaining a 20% stake.
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