Arc Inspirations is looking to evolve its The Box concept into “a high-end American style craft beer sportsbar”, MCA has learnt.
Chief executive Martin Wolstencroft said he was looking at new sites for The Box – currently run as a sportsbar aimed at students and young professionals, with one site in Headingley in Leeds – in the hope of developing the new concept “in the right locations in city centres”.
He told MCA he’d like to open one this year, ideally in Leeds of Manchester, as they are the trading areas the company knows the best. “I feel that is important in order to support it best, manage it tightly, understand the concept and brand and then roll it out from there,” he said, adding that if successful he would look to open a couple of sites a year going forwards.
“We are also looking to reinvest into the Arc concept this summer – the last time we invested in Arc was six years ago,” he said. “We might even make it into some kind of suburban Manahatta at the Arc, which is something that is very exciting, so I am working with some brand agencies to understand the Arc.”
However, the group has rolled back on plans to extend its cocktail delivery service out across its estate. Launched last June the initiative enables customers to order four cocktails for delivery through Deliveroo, but Wolstencroft said the group was just keeping that to the Manahatta estate. It is something that is a great USP for those sites, and helps to add value to the concept he said, but added that it was looking to overcome a few problems caused by a busy rush on cocktails on Friday and Saturday nights.
Earlier this week Arc Inspirations announced it would be opening a second Banyan Bar & Kitchen in the Spinningfields area of Manchester, this summer, as it looks to expand the concept.
Wolstencroft said the group was looking at other cities in the north of England, including “Sheffield, Nottingham and Newcastle”, as well as the suburbs of Manchester.
He said its first Manchester site, in Exchange Square, has been trading very well, but “we were unfortunately really affected by the bomb at Manchester arena last May, through to summer”. “We lost a lot of trade as a lot of the events at the arena were cancelled, but since those restarted again in October it’s really picked back up again” he said.
On third party funding, he said it was something the group is looking at all the time. “We are lucky because of the successes we’ve had that we have always had very strong cash flow, but it is something that we are probably going to be looking at this year again,” he said. “If we are looking to open more than three sites a year we will probably have to look for greater funding to help us on our growth journey.”
