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Guzman y Gomez

Guzman y Gomez (Holdings) Limited (GYG; ) is an Australian multinational casual-dining and fast food restaurant chain. It specialises in Mexican cuisine with burritos, nachos, tacos, quesadillas and other Mexican-inspired items available. Many restaurants also serve coffee through the “Cafe Hola” brand which operates during the morning.

Guzman y Gomez was established in Sydney in 2006 by New York City duo Steven Marks and Robert Hazan and operates over 200 restaurants in Australia, Japan, Singapore and the United States.

Restaurants

In Australia, Guzman y Gomez had 171 restaurants in operation as of September 2023. The business operates internationally with 23 locations in Singapore, Japan, and the United States.

History

Guzman y Gomez was established by Steven Marks, a New Yorker who previously worked as a hedge fund manager. After relocating to Australia, he found the quality of Mexican food to be poor and decided to start a restaurant. He has stated that "real Mexican is really urban, street and hot [...] Latin people are so full of energy and full of life, we wanted to bring that to Australia". He took on his friend Robert Hazan, another New Yorker, as a partner. They named the business after two of Marks' childhood friends.

The first store was opened in King Street, Newtown, Sydney in 2006. Store openings in Bondi Junction and Kings Cross followed within a year. By April 2012, there were 12 stores. The first Guzman y Gomez in the Melbourne central business district opened in November 2012. Within 12 years, they opened 100 stores in Australia.

The first international Guzman y Gomez restaurant opened at the end of 2013 in Singapore, followed thereafter by the opening of a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan in April 2015. In January 2020, Guzman y Gomez's international expansion continued with the opening of their first restaurant in the United States in the Chicago suburb of Naperville.

Ownership and finance

Marks and Hazan initially supported GYG with their own money. In 2009 they sold a minority stake to Peter Ritchie, Guy Russo and Steve Jermyn, who had previously been involved with McDonald's Australia. Russo was subsequently appointed chairman of the board. The board also includes co-founder Robert Hazan, 3 former McDonalds executives, Tom Cowan of TDM Growth Partners, and Rokt CEO Bruce Buchanan.

Investment firm TDM Growth Partners bought a stake in the company for $44 million in August 2018. In December 2020, the publicly listed Magellan Financial Group bought 10% of the company for $86.8 million. In May 2022, Magellan sold its 11.6% stake in the company to an entity owned by investment bank Barrenjoey Capital Partners for $140 million.

Marks stated in 2019 that his goal was to list GYG on the Australian Securities Exchange. In 2020 he stated that he was also ambitious to expand the company's presence in the United States, citing Australia's "antiquated" labour laws, high rents, and expensive fresh produce.

In May 2023, Marks resigned as CEO due to a health scare. However, he changed his mind and remained as CEO. Hilton Brett was appointed co-CEO in October 2023.