‘Like trying to become a gyros chain in Athens’: What went wrong for GyG in America

May 22, 2026 — 3:58pm

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It shouldn’t be a surprise that selling burritos back to the Yanks proved to be so financially unpalatable for Guzman y Gomez and its investors. The real shock is that so many people had bought into the vision when the chain listed on the ASX two years ago.

As John Athanasiou from Red Leaf Securities succinctly put it in a tweet on Friday after GyG announced the abrupt closure of its loss-making US business: “Trying to become a burrito chain in America is like trying to become a gyros chain in Athens. Saturated market.”

But this was precisely the big sell for investors who made GyG the hot float of 2024: the group offered controversial valuation comparisons to the incredibly successful US Mexican grill giant, Chipotle.

The Mexican flavours were sold in a ferocious campaign by GyG’s main owners, private equity group TDM Growth Partners and investment bank Barrenjoey. They each made a........

© The Sydney Morning Herald