The owner of London curry chain Masala Zone on Wednesday said it is eyeing more restaurant openings thanks to landlords beginning to lower “unrealistic” rent expectations.
Ranjit Mathrani, the chairman of MW Eat, which is also behind restaurants Amaya, Chutney Mary and Veeraswamy, said: “We are not prepared to pay silly money which has been the downfall of many restaurateurs.”
Amid tough High Street conditions, which have resulted in retailers and dining chains closing sites, Mathrani has recently seen landlords prepared to offer better deals to attract new tenants. His firm has 11 restaurants and would like to increase that to 17 by 2022.
Masala Zone has a number of London branches including in Covent Garden.
Mathrani founded the business with his wife Namita in 1989. The couple today run it with Mathrani’s sister in-law Camellia Panjabi.
Sales rose 3.7% to £28 million in the year to March 2019, and pretax profits improved to £4 million from £3.8 million.
