Camile Thai Kitchen confirms ambitious expansion plans

Company to open new locations, expand franchise venture and raise funds for ‘technology-centric’ strategy

Thai food chain Camile Thai Kitchen is pushing ahead with its ambitious expansion plans, despite a tough 12 months for the hospitality sector.

The company plans to open 15 new locations in the UK and Ireland this year, 12 of which will be franchised, while 2021 will also see Camile expand its ‘franchise as a service’ venture.

Earlier this year, the chain began offering flexible franchise options for business owners with well located, but underused commercial kitchens in regional towns, enabling them to offer Camile’s delivery menu.

The first such premises recently opened in Sligo, Ireland and Camile aims to open up to six such outlets in the medium term.

In addition, it’s also planning to raise €10 million as part of its plans to progress with what it calls a ‘technology-centric’ strategy.

The chain was the first in Europe to deliver its menu by drone earlier this year and has plans to automate its kitchen operations with robotics in 2021.

Brody Sweeney, founder of Camile Thai Kitchen, says: “Despite an extremely difficult year for the hospitality sector, for Camile 2020 has seen rapid growth.

“Our suburban, delivery focused model has proven to be pandemic proof in the last 11 months, not least in terms of revenue and sales. This has enabled us to not only push forward with our aggressive expansion plans, but also to prematurely move ahead with our main goal - our tech pivot.

“Our raison d’etre is delivering guilt-free, delicious takeaways, but for us we see tech playing such an incremental role in terms of food preparation, but also UX and, of course, delivery.”

Founded in 2010, Camile has 36 outlets, including six in London.