Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech is the latest high-profile footballer to invest some of his earnings in a restaurant – a halal-friendly Mexican joint called Taco Taco that launches this month in Spitalfields.

After his starring role for Morocco in the World Cup last year, Ziyech – like everybody else at Chelsea – had a less successful domestic season, and there is widespread speculation that he will leave the club this summer.

He co-owns Taco Taco, which opens on July 26 in Commercial Street, alongside the team behind Inca, the South American bar and restaurant next door to the London Palladium in Mayfair. The menu is said to feature crunchy sourdough tortillas with a range of fillings, including halal chicken. No pork will be served, but the beef will not be halal.

Ziyech is way behind retired Spanish international Gaizka Mendieta who, it emerged this week, is an active investor in three Spanish restaurant businesses in the Britain – he knows the country after playing for Middlesborough in his declining years as a footballer. His involvements are with Ibérica, which has six restaurants in London and Leeds, Fitzrovia paella specialist Arros QD, and Mercado Central in Cambridge.

He explains how he became interested in the business: “I wanted to be involved in something that was real. I love not only the food, but the learning. I try to be involved as much as I can in the projects, from selecting venues, how we design the space – not so much on the chefs – but I like to have input.

“I was a client of Iberica, and over time I got to know some of the shareholders. The opportunity came there and I took it. The food took me to the business, but I love both. People from Valencia who live in London come and congratulate us. Believe me, for Valencia people to do that means a lot. I’ve grown up with paella. I never thought it would be part of my business life eventually, but there you are.”