Friska, the ‘feel-good food’ café group started by two University of Bath graduates, is aiming to double its number of outlets and expand in cities across the UK after receiving a £3m investment.
The Bristol-based firm, founded Griff Holland and Ed Brown, pictured, who met while studying economics at the University of Bath, now operates from nine locations across Bristol, Birmingham and at Luton Airport. 
The funding from specialist private equity fund manager YFM Equity Partners will be used to drive further growth – taking its chain to 18.
Two openings are planned in Manchester and in other regional cities to build on the brand’s strong reputation for globally-inspired fast food made with fresh, quality, and responsibly sourced ingredients and speciality coffee.
The investment was made through the British Smaller Companies Venture Capital Trusts and sits alongside ongoing support from Santander, which in 2014 invested £1.25m in Friska along with two angel backers. At the time Friska had four cafés in Bristol, including its first in Bristol’s Victoria Street.
Steve Hill, the non-executive chairman national Vietnamese restaurant chain Pho and former CEO of Wagamama, joins Friska as non-executive chairman as part of the deal with YFM.
YFM investment director Charlie Robinson said: “We are thrilled to be supporting Griff and Ed on the next stage of their journey with Friska.
“They have built a fantastic brand with a high-quality breakfast and lunch food offering which customers love. We see significant opportunity for the business to expand into new cities to bring the Friska brand to a new audience.”
Griff had the idea for Friska in 2003 after a family holiday in the US, where he had eaten healthy fast food. But it was not until he met Ed while they were studying economics at the University of Bath that the business took shape.
Griff said: “Over the past seven years, we have been honing our menu, the way our stores look and feel, our brand and of course our operating systems.
“We feel confident that now is the right time to bring our feel-good food (and coffee) to cities around the UK and working with YFM and Steve will allow us to do this faster and better, just like our food.”
Jon Gill and Nina Searle of Bristol-headquartered national law firm TLT provided legal advice to YFM. Financial due diligence carried out by Dave Armstrong and Jack Leggett of South West accountants Francis Clark and organisational due diligence by Anna Cornwallis from Stratton HR.
Tim Spooner and Howard Thompson from KPMG acted as lead financial advisers to Friska with legal support from Philip Edmonds and Charles Van Der Lande from Bristol firm Roxburgh Milkins.
