Nick Desai, the co-founder of microbrewery, pub and restaurant operator, Zerodegrees, has told M&C Report the company plans to open its first new site since 2008 this year.
He said the long-term aim is to add two or three satellite sites around the four current locations and to build a new brewery in Brighton or Southampton, which would also have its own satellite sites.
He said the family-run business would self-fund the expansion.
He told M&C Report: “We grew the business up organically and there was never any particular growth strategy. But we get a lot of people saying ‘we love what you do, can’t you open a site near us’. The most requests have actually come from Surrey so we are now looking in that neck of the woods to try to get something.
“We are looking for satellite restaurants and mini breweries. As we have the existing locations quite spread out, we could operate restaurants and bars within a certain radius that we could take the beers to. It gives us more scope to expand the concept.
“The satellite sites would have the maturation tanks but not the breweries. It gives us the chance to look at smaller sites in good locations.
“We reckon two to three sites around the current locations and then we are also looking at further brewery sites in Brighton and Southampton.”
He added: “Business has really bounced back since the recession and we are now in the position where we can re-invest in some of the sites and look for our firth site this year.
“The craft beer revolution has really helped us because it’s what we have been advocating for 14 years now and the kind of innovation you are now seeing in pubs and restaurants is all stuff we have been doing for years. You see chicken on pizzas everywhere from Domino’s to Pizza Express now but when we started doing it, it was something completely new.
“We still think we have something completely unique – not just in our food and beer offering – but the fact that you are right there and you can see it being made. You now its fresh but you can see the brewery right there. So many bottled beers are pasteurised, which kills the flavour – you might as well drink a Budweiser.”
