Sourced Market founder Ben O’Brien has told MCA he has plans for up to 50 of the hybrid casual dining-farmers market concept.
The company’s flagship is based at St Pancras International station and a second site in Marylebone is due to for a soft launch next Monday, and then officially open on 4 April. A third site is due to open at Nova Victoria on 1 September.
They are also at heads of terms for a yet-to-be announced fourth site in central London, O’Brien said.
The Marylebone site will have a mixture of current and new suppliers and features a basement space which will operate as a bottle shop and wine bar, he said.
“We’ve got eight wines on keg and eight craft bars on tap. Both the wines and beers will be on constant rotation.
“It’s designed so that you can come in, fill up a growler of draught beer, or fill up a wine bottle and then take it away and come back and refill it with something different.
“Obviously you’ll also be able to sample the wines and have a drink on-site as well.”
O’Brien said the concept could work outside of London, but “we’ve got so much opportunity at the moment within London that it’s not something that we’re planning to take outside within the next year or two. After that, definitely”.
“Our plan in the short term – over the next four years – is to grow it to 10 sites.
“Obviously over that period we’ll learn a huge amount and we’ll know what the appetite for what Sourced Market for a brand is, but the reality is that the demand for great food is only growing, people are eating out more.
“I think it could definitely go into other cities throughout the UK and certainly get up to 50 sites.”
Like-for-like sales at St Pancras continued to show double-digit year-on-year growth in its seventh year, he said.
Following its expansion, Sourced Market’s St Pancras site has grown to 3,200sq/ft, Marylebone is 5,000sq/ft and Victoria is 2,300sq/ft.
“The sites we’re looking at for 2017 are about the same size as Victoria,” O’Brien said.
The company was also working to develop a more compact 1,500sq/ft concept that could work in transport hubs in the future, he said.
