Which Wich has is aiming to grow its estate from three sites to 10 in the next year as it looks to begin its long-mooted UK rollout.
Rami Awada, master franchisee in the UK for the US-founded customisable sandwich, tells MCA the group is set to launch a second location in Cardiff in the coming weeks under its partnership with Breaking Brands Management.
This will be followed later in the year by a location in Swansea.
Which Wich announced its franchise agreement with Breaking Brands Management last summer and opened its debut site in Cardiff, which also marked its first location outside of London, in St David’s Shopping Centre in January this year.
The group has also secured separate partners to expand into Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as ones in England.
In the coming months, Which Wich will open in Bristol having secured a location within the Cabot Circus shopping centre.
It is also exploring further opportunities in London, where it currently has corporate-owned sites in Covent Garden and on Fleet Street.
“We’re at the next chapter in our growth journey,” Awada tells MCA.
Awada says the first chapter was ‘establishing and nurturing the brand’, working out what needed to be tweaked and adapted from the US concept in order for it to succeed in the UK market.
“We could have franchised from day one, but we wanted to make sure the brand was ready, especially from a numbers perspective, and ensure everything was in line with expectations before we began scaling.”
Which Wich made its London debut in Covent Garden’s Central St Giles development in 2018 and was originally set to launch a brace of City of London locations under plans to open 10 sites in the capital.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a delay and adjustment in those plans.
Over the following years the group focused on evolving through delivery-only kitchens, which led to a greater focus in offering hot sandwiches including a Philly cheesesteak that drove a rise in evening sales, and the development of a corporate catering arm that Awada says is now a key revenue stream.
This eventually led to the launch of a new sub-franchising model for the brand in 2023, which has led to the expansion now planned.
When asked about the impact of the brand’s development in the UK, Awada says sales are rising year on year.
“We’ve made sure our franchisees are set up for success and now we’re at the point where we’re ready to scale.”
As well as the openings already mentioned, Awada is also exploring the potential to move the brand into more grab-and-go spaces such as travel hubs; mirroring Which Wich’s growth journey in the US.
“Flexibility is a key word for us. It’s a core strength of the brand.
“We don’t require extraction. It’s a simpler operation that doesn’t require cooking from scratch, which gives a lot more availability on sites and means we can go into smaller footprint units.”
