Leon has revealed details of its new Asian venture, hinted at earlier this week, which will see it partner with Thai food group, Aylmer Aaharn.
Tuk Shop will open in early April as a pop-up in one of Leon’s existing West End restaurants.
Aylmer Aaharn was created in 2013 when Michelin-starred chef David Thompson went into partnership with Bangkok-based Aylmer Capital, which funds hospitality projects around Asia.
A spokeswoman for Leon said: “Using the fast food capabilities and principles of Leon, Tuk Shop will combine Aylmer Aaharn’s distinctive flavours to create a menu focused on Thai classics like curries, noodles, rice dishes and salads.”
Earlier this week Leon co-founder John Vincent announced that the group was planning an Asian spin-off for April but declined to give further details.
It came as the group announced a strengthening of its partnership with HMSHost to open international sites. Vincent also told MCA that there were likely to be around six new Leon’s in the UK this year.
Comment by MCA’s Mark Wingett
What’s the most popular cuisine in the world at present? Chinese/Asian. And the fastest-growing sector in restaurants: fast-casual. It is no surprise that operators and investors are drawing their own Venn diagrams and focusing on the intersection of the two, it seems Leon is no different.
Since co-founder John Vincent let slip earlier this week that the company was new concept, “which is going to be more in the Asian space, using a Leon-type kitchen”, hares have started running across the sector about what the group had in-store. Further details revealed yesterday, show that the concept, which will initially take pop-up form this April, will come with some pedigree behind it.
Leon will open Tuk Shop under a joint venture with Thai food group Aylmer Aaharn, which includes high-profile chef David Thompson, who opened Nahm in London in 2001, and within a year, it had become the first Thai restaurant to receive a Michelin star. Thompson has been eyeing a return to the London food scene for the last few years and came very close to taking at site at the Battersea Power Station development.
Chipotle did a trial of a very similar concept with a dozen or two sites, but they ended up shutting it down. Although they were assembly-line rather than order-and-collect.
With a value of £260m (source: MCA), the branded South East Asian is a relatively small segment compared to other fast growing cuisines, not least Japanese (£800m) and Mexican/South American (£550m). Yet with its focus on convenience, casual eating out experiences and aromatic flavours, it is a cuisine that is expected to see significant further growth, particularly through more diverse operating formats, not least food to go.
Leon has become one of the key players in the UK’s fast-casual market – it currently has 50 sites in operation in the UK and Vincent hopes to add six more this year, boosting both the brand’s presence in London and the regions.
Then there is its international aspirations. On Monday, it announced it was planning a further 20 store openings in Europe and the Middle East through its partnership with HMSHost International. Its first US site, company-owned, is due open in Washington DC in October.
The group is firing on all cylinders so you could argue why rock the boat with the distraction of a new concept? It also has a new management team in recently appointed managing director Karen Stone and director of restaurants Adam Gregory to bed in. It is thought that talks to launch a further format took place in the middle of last year, following Spice Private Equity’s, the Swiss investment company, decision to invest £25m on acquiring a significant minority stake in the business.
However, perhaps it is because the group has plenty of momentum behind it, and years of expertise working in and understanding the UK fast-casual market, that it feels confident enough to now tinker around the edges. It won’t find a better time to find sites for the new concept, if it proves successful, with a consumer base increasingly looking to explore cuisines from Asia.
It should however heed the warning from another fast-casual pioneer who tried to launch a dual Asian concept. Chipotle felt empowered enough to open 15 sites under ShopHouse, its Southeast Asian fast-casual. Launched in the US in 2011, ShopHouse offered customizable rice, noodle and salad bowls inspired by the cuisines of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. However, the US consumer wasn’t ready for the flavour palette the concept offered and long side other issues it was facing with its eponymous brand, Chipotle closed all 15 sites last March.
Commentators in the US argued that ShopHouse was “pretty ahead of the curve,” adding that Asian fast-casual restaurants were now increasingly popular with millennials.
Leon will hope, unlike Chipotle, that they have got their timing right. If so they could have a impressive new brand on their hands and the UK eating-out sector a significant new player.
