Patisserie Holdings is to open a site in Brighton next month under its Baker & Spice brand – its first new site since acquiring the brand in 2009 - MCA understands.
Chairman Luke Johnson told MCA there was also likely to be one more Baker & Spice opening before July. He has previously told MCA the company was eyeing London suburbs and the brand has also been linked with an opening in Leeds.
Johnson said there were no plans for a link-up between Brighton-based Small Batch Coffee, which he invested in last November, when Baker & Spice opens in the city.
Speaking to MCA about the prospects for its currently four-strong premium brand last year, Johnson said: “We have been slow in growing that brand. It’s clearly a very profitable business. It is a premium offer and it’s more complicated than Patisserie Valerie so we have taken our time but we will be opening in a London suburb in a few months and if that goes well we will look to do more. Clearly it will never have anything like the size of the market that Patisserie Valerie has but we think it’s going to be a profitable contributer.”
On the scope for the brand, he said: “We have some stats on similar business in Gail’s which is now at almost 30 in London and I think that shows there is scope for those more artisan offerings with premium prices.
“We have a deli element to Baker and Spice which there isn’t in Gail’s and I think that is an important component in its success.”
