Brasseria Family sees potential for at least five to six sites in London, and scope to move abroad through franchising or a joint venture model.
The all-day Italian concept recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to open its third site in South Kensington, Brasseria Brompton.
With a target of £1.05m on CrowdCube, it has now achieved over £1.2m from 81 investors as of today (27 February), exceeding its target.
“Sustainable expansion has to be at the bottom of that,” co-founder Alberto Fraquelli tells MCA.
“It’s very easy to now ramp up because you believe that you have a successful campaign,” he says, adding, “But we’ve got such key locations, and we have in mind 3 or 4 pockets of London that we might see a Brasseria.”
Fraquelli says he has so far resisted putting a number on the long-term potential for the brand, having fostered “organic” growth over the last five years, alongside his brother and co-founder Andrea Fraquelli.
“I would say that I personally see at least five to six Brasseria’s in London.
“I also see scope for us to find partners abroad; that could be through a franchise or joint venture route.
He also sees potential to branch out into a “lighter” brasseria model, with smaller units and a narrower focus, such as Italian coffee or pastries.
“I think that’s much further down the line, the immediate focus is to deliver that experiential premium product, in iconic neighbourhoods across London.”
A third-generation restaurateur, Fraquelli’s grandfather came to the UK from Italy in the 1950s to set up Spaghetti House.
Having spent five years as a lawyer, he says he was drawn back to the industry that is “in his blood” but recognised that it is now more competitive than ever.
“It became harder to raise capital in some areas of the market, especially fast casual, and it was very saturated.
“What my brother and I recognised was that in 2017, there weren’t many brands that were doing all day, in an Italian environment.
“We spent time in European cities, and we started to see that breakfast was becoming a bit more formalised, people would sit down, and they would start to spend good money.
“It was a great opportunity to increase turnover, increase footfall and start the day earlier than midday.
“And then obviously, we’re taking a step back and saying there still needs to be an Italian heart. So, for example, the people serving inside need to be Italian, there needs to be references to Italy in the artwork”, he explains.
The neighbourhood model
Brasseria Family launched its first site in Marylebone in May 2018.
“The reason why that location is so good, is because Marylebone is this unique part of London, where it’s very central, but it still feels like a neighbourhood”, Fraquelli tells MCA.
“The next part of our model was to look at other neighbourhoods where we could replicate that.
“In Marylebone, it is more of a high street where there’s lots of shops and businesses.
“The demographic is quite broad, anyone from the ages of 25 to 60.”
Meanwhile, Notting Hill is a more residential “aspirational” neighbourhood, says Fraquelli.
“You get young families who either work in professional services or people who’ve lived in the area for many years.
“These people are dwellers, rather than fast diners. The spend per head is slightly higher to what we’re achieving in Marylebone because they have more time.”
At the group’s next site in South Kensington, Fraquelli plans to “marry those two things.”
“We’re going to take the best of the two markets because it’s a very affluent residential area, but it’s got shops and is near the Kings Road and South Kensington Station. So we’re going to get a lot of that footfall.”
Although the brand does harness tech in its back of house operations, Fraquelli is adamant that this will not extend into “the eyes of the customers.”
“I find that if a waiter comes to you with an iPad and there’s a screen in front of them, they don’t look at the customer anymore.
“They don’t give them that feeling that we do in Brasseria.”
This focus on personal engagement is something that led the Fraquellis to crowdfunding, after previously self-funding the business, and bringing in angel investors in 2020, including Simon Woodroffe, founder of Yo! Sushi.
“We’ve got a database now that we’re building up; a group of people who are very engaged in what we’re doing.
“At this stage we have an empowerment of our people at a site level, that they run the restaurants like they are their own”, Fraquelli adds.
A sharp focus on this service element means that the brand does not offer delivery, or takeaway.
“That would be the biggest mistake in diluting our brand,” he says.
