Guzman y Gomez (GYG) has made a hot debut on the stock market, with the Mexican-inspired quick service restaurant's (QSR) market value skyrocketing to $3 billion as it commenced trading on Thursday.

Trading under the ticker GYG, the QSR's shares opened at $30 - more than 36% above the price paid by investors ahead of the initial public offering.

Guzman y Gomez announced the public offering at the end of May with an Initial Public Offering of 11.1 million shares at a price of $22.00 per share to raise approximately A$242.5 million, including approximately A$200 million in primary proceeds and A$42.5 million of secondary selldown on behalf of select existing securityholders.

The business said that the primary proceeds would be used to fund GYG’s growth strategy over the coming years, with a focus on the significant expansion of its corporate restaurant network in Australia. The funds would also give substantial flexibility to accelerate the strategy if right opportunity arose.

“Over the last 18 years, the team at GYG have been obsessed with providing our guests with the freshest, cleanest and fastest made-to-order Mexican-inspired food. I am incredibly proud to say that we now do this across more than 200 restaurants in Australia, Singapore, Japan and the US. And the most exciting part is that we are just getting started," said Steven Marks, GYG Founder and Co-CEO. "As we commence the next chapter as an ASX-listed company, our vision to reinvent fast food and change the way the masses eat will remain central to what we do. We truly believe that fast food doesn’t have to be bad food and we look forward to sharing our food with more guests across Australia and overseas as we look to realise the opportunity we have to grow our network to more than 1,000 restaurants over the next 20+ years.”

Co-CEO, Hilton Brett, said: “GYG has a strong operational and financial track record, with global network sales increasing from $101 million in FY15 to $759 million in FY23, a CAGR of 29%. In addition to our delicious food, that growth has been underpinned by compelling restaurant economics which has allowed us to invest in our restaurant network, our teams and our systems.