Australian Mexican restaurant chain Mad Mex plans to expand into Asia, starting with its first Singapore restaurant this month. 

An inaugural Malaysian store is on track to open in December, and Indonesia and Thailand are also on the list.

Mad Mex, which recently partnered with Singapore’s 4Fingers group, runs 70 restaurants in Australia and New Zealand and claims to have served up more than 4 million burritos within the last year. 

“Asia is a growth market with diverse cultures and adventurous appetites for great tastes and flavours, which is perfect for Mad Mex,” said founder Clovis Young. 

“The expansion into Asia Pacific comes at an exciting time for Mad Mex: we’ve launched our Fresh Fuel for Life brand positioning which highlights our continued commitment to best-quality Mexican food, packed with fresh and healthy ingredients to fuel our amigos’ lives and passions. We pride ourselves on providing real food with no nasties, and big bold authentic flavours to nourish real people on the go.”

Young said Southeast Asia is in the midst of a food revolution towards healthy eating, and believes Mad Mex’s healthy, quality offer will resonate with local customers. 

“We are very excited by the opportunity and we have big plans for the next five years.“

Mad Mex has opened in Singapore’s Marina Bay financial district. With 4Fingers the company plans to make the most of local market knowledge in growing both brands in Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the company has reported like-for-like sales growth of 6.5 per cent this year and 70 consecutive weeks of sales growth in its core Australian market. 

“The results our team has delivered are truly remarkable and a demonstration of the passion and enthusiasm our restaurant teams have for the food and the brand. The last year has been very tough for retailers, so this performance really is exceptional.”