Sixco Limited, the Glasgow-based group behind the Six by Nico restaurant network, has announced improved turnover and profits in its annual report, together with ambitious growth plans, as it bounces back from Covid restrictions.
It’s also been revealed that the group and its staff raised over £300,000 for Sixco’s charity partner, Beatson Cancer Charity, largely through the Beat6 not-for-profit restaurant in Glasgow.
The company, which serves over 10,000 diners per week across 13 sites in the UK and Ireland, reported recorded turnover of £30.8m for the year to June 2022, versus £18.1m for the prior 15-month period to June 2021. Operating profits increased to £4.4m against a loss of £0.6m the previous year. An £11.5m funding facility was also agreed with challenger bank ThinCats to support Sixco’s expansion strategy.
During the period the company invested £3.9m opening new Six by Nico sites in Canary Wharf, Dublin, and Aberdeen as well as in Tan&ns, a wine importer that supplies all the group’s ‘wet’ requirements.
Having emerged from the pandemic in a strong position, CEO and founder Nico Simeone revealed the group will deliver a significant expansion in the next 12 months, with four new UK Six by Nico openings, as well as new bar and bakery ventures in Q1 and Q2 2023.
In addition, the group is drawing up plans for international expansion, with potential for a new venture in Dubai towards the end of 2023.
Simeone says: “While Covid was a huge challenge, we’ve bounced back very strongly, thanks to our amazingly loyal customer base who stayed with us through the lockdowns and have returned to our restaurants in phenomenal numbers.
“That’s down to our dedicated and hard-working team who have been absolutely brilliant – delivering consistent creativity and fun experiences day-in, day-out.”
Sixco Group Chairman, Rob Wirszycz said: “Nico’s genius in coming up with the concept of fixed-price, six-course tasting menus that change every six weeks has struck a resounding chord with the dining public.
“Crucially, thanks to our core strategy of building customer loyalty, we emerged strongly from the pandemic and now have a fast-expanding database of more than 550,000 engaged and active customers, all literally hungry for the experiences we deliver.
“Our headcount has expanded to over 500 colleagues, despite the well-known challenges the industry has faced in recruitment and retention, and our employee benefits are highly competitive.
“The plans we have developed to extend our network and broaden our offering in the UK and overseas are enormously exciting. We’ve done our homework and are confident we’ll continue to deliver on our ethos of bringing incredible value for money and great food and drink experiences, that we believe gives us a level of resilience at a tough time for the sector more generally.”
Simeone concluded: “At our core we are creative, agile and driven to deliver for our customers and 2023 promises to be our most exciting year. We’re really confident that, despite the economic headwinds, our high-value and high-experience restaurants will continue to excite our customers into the new year and beyond.”