The founder of Blues Smokehouse has made tweaks to his three-strong American barbecue concept which will be tailored to the UK’s multi-cultural population as he looks to open two new sites in 2017, MCA has learned.
Founder Carlos Maidana said the brand, which is part of his PS – The Pub Company, was expanding its repertoire of barbecue to incorporate cuisines from around the world.
Maidana said Blues Smokehouse had successfully trialled a Polish barbecue platter at its recently opened Slough restaurant to cater for the large local Polish population and would follow a similar approach at new openings.
He said Blues Smokehouse was finalising negotiations to open in high footfall retail units in Farnborough and Swindon, and would continue to target sites west of London to add to Twickenham and Bracknell, with a target of two a year.
Maidana said: “We are increasing our emphasis on barbecue, not just the smokehouse, and exploiting the wide cultural differences we have around the country with various barbecue styles from around the world.
“In Slough we have a large Polish population and we recently launched a platter of Polish smoked sausages and pig hearts, which has gone down so well we’ve now translated our menu to cater for that community.
“We’ve listened to what our customers want, and given them something they can’t get currently.”
The barbecue and smoking style of the Southern States of America will remain at the core of Blues Smokehouse, though each restaurant’s menu will be tailored to the local population.
Barbecue styles including Portuguese, Brazilian, North African, Australian and South African will be introduced as monthly specials at each site.
On his strategy for Blues Smokehosue moving forward he said: “We will be moving more towards mainstream high streets and try and play with the big boys and continue with M3/M4 corridor going out towards west of London, which fits really well with the segment that we’re aiming for.”
Meanwhile Maidana said he was moving closer to expanding PS – The Pub Company’s two-strong pub estate with a first freehold.
He is undergoing a third revision of plans to open gastropub the Yew Tree and linked development in the Buckinghamshire village of Freith, which will include a pie and bakehouse.
