Street food vendor B.O.B.’s Lobster has secured its first bricks and mortar site at London Bridge and will open in the summer, MCA can reveal.
The concept, which has been a fixture at Royal Ascot and Street Feast’s Dalston Yard and Hawker House, is set to open in St Thomas Street.
The 1,300 sq ft, 55-cover seafood diner will feature an expanded menu, and open from 7.30am for breakfast and brunch, which will include items like lobster eggs benedict, through to closing at midnight.
Meanwhile B.O.B.’s Lobster’s sister concept Bedales of Borough, the Borough Market wine bar, will close for three months over the summer to build a 50-cover terrace, which will overlook the thriving food market.
A team led by Roberto Dann took over Bedales of Borough, which also has branches in Spitalfields and Leadenhall, in 2012, before launching B.O.B.’s Lobster as a spin-off street food concept in 2013.
Dann told MCA: “This restaurant has been a long time coming and for us it’s about investing in the area.
“We love it here and we’re really excited to be part of the reinvention of the area.”
Dann said the restaurant would aim to keep B.O.B.’s street food roots intact, with the shell of the food truck to feature inside, and a combination of casual dining with luxurious ingredients and a playful interior.
B.O.B.’s Lobster received several offers from landlords in London as well as international franchise opportunities, but Dann said he preferred to grow the business without outside investment.
He said: “We wanted to growth organically; we don’t have an exit plan. I speak to a lot of people in the industry who see restaurants as a money making scheme, and talk about their five year exit plan, but I’m a bit insulted by that.”
Dann said he was open to further B.O.B.’s sites if the right opportunities arose but declined to put a number, and said there were no plans for sites on every high street.
“It is site specific”, he added. “If great property comes up and it’s good value we would certainly think about it.”
Bedales of Borough will close during the summer for three months while the new terrace is built, before reopening in September, adding 50 new covers to the existing 70.
Dann said the group, which also includes brand and hospitality director Stephanie Flanagan and operations director Jamie Watts in its senior team, was open to new ideas and concepts.
He said they were exploring a number of “hunger pangs and cravings”, which he hinted could include pizza, Mexican and charcuterie concepts, as well as bars separate from the Bedales name.
