From its humble beginnings in Lewes and Brighton, Bill’s has joined the big league with annual turnover topping £100 million.
New openings pushed the restaurant company’s revenues up 20.5 per cent to £110 million from £92 million for the most recent financial year.
Profits rose 8.9 per cent to £13.5 million as nine new sites opened and the restaurant chain was listed at number 70 in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track List 2016.
The list ranks Britain’s fastest growing private companies over a three-year cycle, with the results published each December.
The restaurant business was founded in 2004 by former greengrocer Bill Collison after his Lewes shop was flooded. Bill’s opened in North, Road, Brighton in 2005.
Mr Collison, 54, sold most of his stake in the business to restaurateur Richard Caring, best known for running The Ivy and Le Caprice. Caring, 68, a pioneer of fast fashion, also owns stakes in Cote, Carluccio’s and Soho House.
Mr Collison still has a stake in Bill’s and plays an active role in the business, leading the creative design of its growing number of restaurants.
