Farmer J revenue jumps 50% to £41.1m as losses widen too
The healthy fast-food chain grew to 17 UK sites and opened in New York in 2025, but its annual loss more than doubled to £1.46m as it keeps spending on expansion.
Farmer J grew revenue 50% to £41.1m in 2025, filings published this week show, even as its annual loss more than doubled to £1.46m.
The healthy quick-service chain, led by Jonathan Recanati, ran 17 UK sites by the end of 2025, up from a smaller base the year before. The loss widened from £682,000 in 2024, a gap the company attributes to spending on new openings, digital ordering and staff systems rather than any single site underperforming.
The bigger bet sits outside Britain. Farmer J opened its first New York restaurant in January 2026, backed by $23m (£17.5m) raised in November 2025, and now plans two more US sites on top of it.
After the success of our first site in New York, we will be looking at expanding our US platform.
In the UK, three more London openings followed in 2026, with a fourth expected before the year is out and another booked for early 2027. That is a faster domestic pace than the chain kept in its first several years of trading.
"After the success of our first site in New York, we will be looking at expanding our US platform," Recanati said, framing the loss as the cost of building infrastructure for a bigger company rather than a sign the format itself is struggling.
Growth that outruns profit on purpose
A 50% jump in revenue alongside a widening loss is the standard shape of a chain still mid-expansion: each new site costs more upfront than it earns back in its first year, so the top line grows faster than the bottom one until openings slow down. Farmer J is choosing to keep opening rather than pause to let existing sites catch up.
At least five more UK sites are planned for 2027, alongside the two further US openings, which would take the chain's loss-making phase into at least a third year.
A crowded shelf for "healthy fast food"
Farmer J is competing for the same lunchtime customer as a long list of London salad and grain-bowl chains, most of which have made the same bet on volume before margin. Diners are already spending more per visit at UK restaurants generally, which helps a chain growing on revenue, but does nothing for a loss that depends on turning new openings profitable fast.
