Wahaca (phonetic spelling of the Mexican State of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

) is a UK restaurant group selling Mexican-style street food, co-founded by

Thomasina Miers Thomasina Jean "Tommi" Miers, OBE (born February 1976) is an English cook, writer and television presenter. She is the co-founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican street food restaurants. Early life Thomasina Jean "Tommi" Miers was born in Fe ...

, with 13 branches in the United Kingdom.

History

Miers opened the first branch in the West End of London in August 2007, focused on Mexican street food. In October 2008 a second Wahaca opened at Westfield in London. Two further branches in Canary Wharf and Soho followed in 2011, and Wahaca launched its first mobile street kitchen. In 2012 it opened its Top One Wahaca Southbank Experiment. In September 2015 Wahaca opened its first restaurant in the north west, based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. In July 2016 Wahaca launched its "at home" range. In October 2016, Wahaca opened its first restaurant in Scotland, in central

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Wahaca's Mexican Street Kitchen at Canary Wharf

As of December 2017, Wahaca had 25 branches, up from 19 branches in September 2015. They also have three bars and two street kitchen locations. In November 2017, Wahaca used the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead as the basis for a three-day festival to promote their business. In August 2020, Wahaca announced that it would close ten of its 28 restaurants due to a downturn in business caused by the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

. As part of the restructuring the following Wahaca restaurants were permanently closed: Bluewater (Kent), Bristol, Brixton (London), Charlotte Street (London), Chichester, Manchester, Liverpool, Kentish Town (London), Southampton, and St Paul’s (London). In November 2020, Dick Enthoven, the billionaire owner of Nandos bought a £4m majority stake in Wahaca's parent company, Oaxaca Ltd. Wahaca entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in which shareholders and lenders agreed to write off £25m of debt while injecting £5m into the restaurant chain.

Awards

Wahaca has won awards for its food, design, and sustainability. In 2016, co-founders Mark Selby and Thomasina Miers were voted restaurateurs of the year by Caterer Magazine. In 2016, Wahaca became the first restaurant group in the UK to be certified as carbon neutral.

Norovirus outbreak

In November 2016, Wahaca restaurants primarily in London, but also in other locations including Manchester, were suspected as the source of a norovirus outbreak leading to 1000 people falling ill, with symptoms including vomiting. In response, Wahaca temporarily closed nine outlets and apologised to those who had been unwell.

Employment rights

In June 2019, Wahaca was criticised for making serving staff pay part of the bills of customers who left without paying. Following a backlash on social media, they changed the policy.

References

External links