Trends at a crossroads

The UK’s leisure sector is growing but with even more names vying for space and consumer trends constantly changing, it’s a tough market. Amber Rolt speaks to some of the newcomers looking to make an impact

Whether it is the latest street food concept, health craze or must-try international cuisine, the UK’s leisure market really does try to cater for all.

But with so many new entrants to the market gobbling up market share and setting new trends, it is harder than ever for new brands to make their mark in this increasingly competitive sector.

The leisure sector in the UK is worth £117bn, but companies need to have a solid idea and a thorough understanding of the market to survive.

According to Deloitte, leisure is growing twice as fast as the retail sector and in the first quarter of 2016, 95% of consumers spent money on leisure activities including eating out, going to the cinema and gym memberships.

Consumer spend remains buoyant and surpassed pre-recession levels in 2015 to more than £81bn, and will exceed £85bn by 2020 and £91bn
by 2026 according to Pitney Bowes. But the majority of this spend comes from millennials (aged 34 and under), and millennials are a tough market to please.

They have less brand loyalty than any other consumer age range, and one bad post on Instagram can ruin your reputation and bring any aspirations of growth to a grinding halt.

However, this growing consumer base is social media savvy, meaning that new brands can get a sense of whether their concept will click with customers online before they make the plunge into the physical sphere.

Estates Gazette caught up with four new occupiers which think they have what it takes to expand their leisure concepts into a competitive market.

Mowgli Street Food

What it does: Authentic Indian street food in a relaxed environment

Current sites: Two restaurants, in Liverpool and Manchester

Expansion plans: Looking to open 10 restaurants a year over the next five years

Size requirements: 2,500sq ft-8,000 sq ft

Location: Major UK towns and cities, targeting London, Bristol, Brighton, Glasgow, Oxford, Nottingham, Sheffield and Birmingham

Type of space: High streets and shopping centres

Ideal lease structure: 15-year leases with a 2/3-year break clause of up to £60,000 pa outside London.

In 2014, barrister-turned-author Nisha Katona decided to give up her 20-year career and pursue her love for real Indian food. “My passion has been to really change the way that the British population see Indian food,” she says.

“Indian food is seen as a burnished experience eaten at two o’ clock in the morning and it’s not – it’s a way that a billion people eat breakfast, lunch and supper every day, so I am very passionate about getting the real kind of home style street food out into Britain, and not many people are doing it.”

Mowgli first opened a tiny unit on Bold Street in Liverpool 18 months ago, followed by a second site at the Corn Exchange in Manchester. With two more sites in the pipeline – one in Trinity Leeds and a second planned for Liverpool, Katona is preparing to take her concept nationwide.

London is next on the list. “I am looking for something on the high street, something central,” she says. “For the first one in London I need it to be in keeping with the brand, which is gritty, edgy and fresh.”

The interior of her restaurants speaks for the brand too, and she keeps the design simple and laid back, with none of the frills and fixtures that you might expect to find in an Indian restaurant. “My theory is that if you can’t take Indian food out and put coffee in the next day then I am getting something wrong with the design, so it is very Scandinavian – we do what we want to do to you with the food, not the interior,” she says.

With plans to open as many as 10 restaurants a year over the next five years, Katona is adamant that Mowgli can work anywhere.

“It would work on Regent Street, it would work in Westfield,” she says. “There is a lot coming, and so we need to move now because the race is on.”

Urban food fest

Urban Food Fest first made a name for itself on the London leisure scene by converting a former Euro Car Parks site on Shoreditch High Street into a vibrant street food market.

“We turned what was a full-time car park into a fine dining pop-up eatery with a constantly evolving line-up,” says Mike Egerton, co-founder of the business alongside Jessica Tucker. “We saw how cool and funky street food could be, so the idea came out of a passion for food and converting this space in Shoreditch,” says Egerton.

The concept is that the food and drink stalls work on rotation, meaning that there is always a new offering. Following the success of its Shoreditch site, Urban Food Fest has now opened at a former Euro Car Park site at Deansgate in Manchester, and the group is looking to take the concept nationwide, ideally opening as many as 10 new sites a year.

Its lease structure is also unique, and in terms of the space that it is after, the sky is the limit. It will consider car parks, buildings in development, shopping centres and retail parks. “We work with various people depending what land and space they have available,” says Egerton. “We work on a very bespoke basis and work around whatever the landlord’s requirements are to create a pop-up market in each vicinity, so it is always very versatile,” he says.

In addition to its permanent sites, it is looking to work with retail landlords to open independent food stalls in shopping centres, retail parks and high streets on an ad hoc basis.

“We want to work with a lot of the agents and landlords to create great pop-up environments in the various spaces they have to create a real hub and a point of difference where people can been drawn in,” says Egerton.

Urban Food Fest is also looking to work with developers. Sites which would otherwise be out of use while locked up in planning can make the perfect spot for a temporary market.

Egerton says: “A lot of people hold derelict land space, which we could then use for pop ups and that is something else that we would like to do where we can.”

Sugar Dumplin BBQ & Bar

What it does: Rum cocktails and Caribbean food

Current sites: Glasgow, Camberley, Kingston and a fourth opening soon in Wembley

Expansion plans: Five by the year end, then 25-30 over the next five years

Size requirements: 1,800-3,500 sq ft

Location: UK towns and cities

Type of space: High streets and shopping centres, preferably near other late night leisure venues

Ideal lease structure: £50,000-80,000 pa in rent and 15-year terms

Inspired by his Jamaican heritage and love of good food, Sugar Dumplin co-founder Norris Panton is on a mission to bring Caribbean spice to the UK. Founded in 2015 with co-founder Craig Ince, the duo are looking to fill what they perceive is a gap in the Caribbean food offer in the UK.

“My mum is from Jamaica and my business partner and his family are from Guyana, and we constantly argue about who does the best food, and it’s the Jamaicans of course,” Panton laughs. “We wanted to try and do something that represented the culture, something positive about the Caribbean but also something that understands the local market,” he says.

Sugar Dumplin’s concept revolves around authentic Caribbean food and drink, served up in the brand’s “Rum Shack” themed restaurants where you can find candle-lit beach huts, live steel drum brands, plenty of jerk chicken, and of course, rum on tap.

“If you ate how I would in the Caribbean it might be too hot for you, so we have focused the menu on being flavoursome and more aromatic than just hot pepper,” says Panton.

Sugar Dumplin started in a shared kitchen in Old Trafford in Manchester, and then went on to operate several successful pop-ups with Street Feast in London, Soho Square as well as being the main food operator for the London Beach Rugby tournament.

Now it has three restaurants, with a new site in Wembley scheduled to open soon, and has just exchanged on a fifth site in Leeds. Plans to open 30 over the next five years are ambitious, but Panton believes his concept can break the UK market.

The Massage Company

What it does: Massage services offered on a membership basis

Current sites: One shop in Camberley, Surrey

Expansion plans: 30 sites over the next five years

Size requirements: 1,800-3,500 sq ft

Location: UK-wide with a focus on regional towns

Type of space: Out-of-town shopping parks, shopping centres, places with a high female catchment

Ideal lease structure: 10-15 years

“How many massages would you normally have in a year? One, possibly two, most likely on holiday or as a treat,” asks Elliot Walker, co-founder of The Massage Company and former Murad UK managing director.

Walker wants to change this perception.

“What we are trying to do in the UK is make massage a part of every day life,” says Walker. Inspired by a similar model in the US, Walker teamed up with the chair of the UK Spa Association and former head of health and beauty for Virgin Active, Charlie Thompson, to bring the idea to the UK.

The Massage Company is the first membership-based massage business in the UK. Its vision is to bring high quality massage into the mainstream by making treatments more affordable. Under its membership programme, massages cost around £40.

“I saw the growth potential for this business in the US and wanted to be the one to bring it over here,” says Walker. “So Charlie and I came together to launch this concept, and it has now been recognised by the NHS that it has health benefits and stress-beating benefits.”

The first site opened in Camberley, Surrey, in March, and has 14 treatment rooms over two floors, and the duo are looking to take the concept all over the UK, with a focus on regional towns. The first site is owned by The Massage Company, but in the future they will look to franchise the business.

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