GWS Giant Matt de Boer, Wallabies caption Michael Hooper and Australian netballer and NSW Swift, Maddy Proud, are just some of the elite sports stars who are investing in the Guzman y Gomez business.
Matt de Boer founded investment syndicate Athletic Ventures in 2020 and the private equity group spotted the potential in the Mexican chain late last year.
Now it has been revealed which are the champion athletes who have become GYG shareholders.
Champion athlete investors include NBA Cleveland Cavalier and Australian Boomer, Matt Dellavedova; Australian cricketer and Sydney Sixers captain, Moises Henriques; and Australian and NSW cricketers, Trent Copeland and Kurtis Patterson.
Matt de Boer said “Athletes care deeply what they put in their bodies. All of us were already huge GYG fans, with many elite teams serving GYG as their recovery meals on game days.
“In addition, the high-performance culture that Steven and his team have built makes GYG a natural fit for AV. We are so pleased to be investing in such an aligned business that we can genuinely support and add value to.”
The interest in this burgeoning fast food chain spreads across 40+ athletes from AFL and AFLW, NRL, NBA, netball, rugby, cricket, tennis, swimming and surfing.
Matt Dellavedova said “Being an athlete based in the US, I am most excited about GYG’s potential in the US and I can’t wait to see their expansion over here. When the opportunity to invest and be part of the GYG journey came up, I was definitely in.
“An Australian business taking on the global fast food industry is such a great story but GYG are innovating and fast food that’s made fresh with drive thrus is exactly what a market like the US will love.”
GYG founder and CEO Steven Marks said “For years GYG have been feeding athletes their pre and post match meals. Professional teams order with us each week as their nutritionists are incredibly mindful of what they are eating. When we were approached by Ed Cowan from TDM who is one of our investors saying that we had 40+ athletes who wanted to buy into the brand, how could we say no?
“The Athletic Ventures athletes who have invested into the GYG brand have joined a tight-knit family and we couldn’t be happier to have them.
“GYG started as a single restaurant in Newtown in 2006 and has now grown to over 150 restaurants worldwide. We’re changing the way the world views fast food and replacing it with real, nutritious ingredients, made fresh daily and combining it with speed and value — to be the only fast food brand with food that is healthy enough for Australia’s top-performing athletes.
“At GYG we’ve always done things a little differently and I think it says so much about our brand when Australia’s top athletes here and internationally are prepared to invest their money in a brand they believe in.”