Ed Brown and Griff Holland: Friska

Ed Brown and Griff Holland, 28 and 31
Company: Friska
Web: www.friskafood.com

Most fast food restaurants found in UK towns and cities share a number of common traits; normally franchises owned by huge American multinationals, they emphasise speed of service and salty, fatty items over healthy options and ethical sourcing. Ed Brown and Griff Holland’s Bristol-based start-up Friska has already taken impressive steps to confound these preconceptions, and is well on its way to becoming a genuine alternative to mainstays such as McDonalds. The restaurant offers healthy, ethically-sourced and seasonal food inspired by locations around the world, and a strong emphasis on ethics is at the core of everything the business does – every month, Friska fully funds an entrepreneur in a developing country through microfinance charity Deki. As well as the consumer-facing fast food side of the business, Friska also generates revenue through corporate catering, with clients now including KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte.

All this has seen Friska grow by 135% in the last year, with a run rate of £1.5m and a projected turnover of £3.2m for 2014 – impressive financials for a business breaking into one of the most closed markets in the world. The duo are currently in the process of raising £1.25m, which will back the opening of sites in Birmingham and Manchester, with a second funding round planned to facilitate the eventual opening of a site in London.