MOJO reveals plans to extend beyond northern heartland

The Leeds-based company revealed it growth strategy after securing £700,000 of funding.

MOJO, which is the operating name of parent company Voodoo Doll, currently operates its rock-themed cocktail bars in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. It plans to reach double figures within the next eight years and is targeting its first bar in London within the next 12 months.

Managing director Martin Greenhow said the company wants to open a further two venues in the capital before branching out into other major UK cities.

He said: “Having organically grown to cover three major northern cities in England, London is the natural progression for the business and we are confident that there is a strong market waiting for MOJO in London. If you look at our customer database, a third of the existing customers have London addresses. The reasons for that are due to the migration between the south east and the north (and vice versa) of our core customer demographic.

Student base​

“People from Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester head to London for work after university, and of course the north also benefits from many students from the south coming to study, of course the majority then return once they have completed their degree taking with them an affinity for MOJO.

“We are looking at three bars in London and will then look to extend the brand into other UK cities.” 

The finance came from HSBC’s South Yorkshire Commercial Centre in a deal managed by senior commercial manager Chris Alsop. The funding has been allocated from HSBC’s £500 million fund specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises in Yorkshire, which is available for companies with a turnover of up to £30 million.

MOJO was founded in 2002 and generates annual sales of £4 million, which it wants to grow to £16 million through its expansion programme.

HSBC was advised on the deal by Don Gray of BHP Corporate Finance and Wake Smith LLP’s John Baddeley and Neil Salter, while the company was advised by Ateeq Ahmed and Adrian Hackett of Freeths LLP. Lead advisers on the deal were Kevan Shaw and Steve Bell of Castle Square Corporate Finance.