Laura Morris, the founder of the Yard & Coop fried chicken concept, has told M&C Report she is already eyeing sites for her second outlet ahead of an expected July opening for her first restaurant, in Manchester.
Morris, who spent ten years as a GM for Inventive Leisure before working for Simon Rimmer at his Greens restaurant in Didsbury, Manchester, is looking at Bristol or Liverpool for the second Yard & Coop.
She said she had specifically chosen a large unit for her first restaurant with the aim of using sales to fund the next site, which she hopes to secure within the first six months of operating.
Morris said Manchester was an ideal starting point.
She said: “There’s a few people dipping their toe in the water with fried chicken but no-one is doing it as their speciality. There are small places in Liverpool but Manchester is a big city and has a great reputation for food so there seemed to be an obvious gap in the market. We chose the Northern Quarter because of its vibrant restaurant scene.”
She said the concept was aimed at people who “want to have a great time and eat delicious food but don’t want to hang around”.
She said: “The menu will be centred around buttermilk fried chicken but there’s lots of variations on that. There will be about 20 sides. We want people to be able to come back time and time again and try different foods. It’s a case of piecing together what they want from a big range of options.”
Morris named Motherclucker as one of the concepts that has inspired her, saying “if we could get people to queue for an hour to try our chicken that would really be something”.
On her growth plans, she said: “I chose quite a big site for the initial one because it needs to fund number two. We have been looking already at Bristol and we would love to go up to Liverpool. We would be looking in the first six months to have a pin in somewhere.
On funding she said: “In the future we would be interested in talking to investors but at the moment we are self-sufficient.”
