CONC ee ty Poet) er the Boxpark concept, Pett tens ty Se aay Petey Pes eats revolution’ a \wovwpropelhosptaliy.com * SUMMER 2017 = PROPEL QUARTERLY 25)PC: You're now a fully fledged bar and restaurant operator ‘with the new contra bar at Bexpark Croydon, how lat ging? RW: Boxpark Croydon it drinking and dining, tis literally our fist sx months of running a kar. It is maybe a major departure fora retall developer to Start being a bar operator but we are a business that wants to make people feel special, We have got almost 40 operators on the food eid at Boxpark Croydon and wo fot we needed to Lnderpin the ste with a central bar alongside 200-pIus gw events 6 fist ime wa've included hospitality PC: How would you describe your core demographic RW: We sorve the existing cientele in Croydon end bring in a younger demographic at night. The normal wade is at lunchtime and then ater work We nowhove e tam lence. \Werun three or four events avery week, certainly cna Thursday Friday and Saturday. We have people coming now specifica to visit the bar~ ts been successful PC: After Shoreditch, why Croydon? RW: C:oydon suffered from an image problem. People labeled an entre borough as grey and the place suffered from 2 superfcialimage suggesting nothing really happens there, The resltyis Croydon isthe lagart London borough with more than 500,000 people -a significantly greater population than Brighton yot its really underserved in terme of bars and restaurants In terms ofthe offer in Croydon it was really poor We sed "Look, 500,000 people are ling here, Every time they went to have a tinleor a nice meal they've get to go outside the borough al . oF “Because we've Ny to got that, Tiss ridiculous.” We wanted to reste something to serve the latent demand, and what thas proven to vs and others ieyou don’ have to follow the crowd and go to trondy arose, The ‘market in Croydon was eying out for some really good bars and restaurants, The response has been phenomenal. Because we've get such economies of scale and a major development, we can almost create ou own restaurant quarter in Croydon in one go. We are not reliant on anyone else PC: Did the Shoreditch site build anticipation 9) _ Tor what was to come and make Croydon bit cooler? ‘got such economies did, We received so many comments in O eeeere naa enajor 2, RAEI. We received so many comments development, we can, almost create our own restaurant quarter in > {Croydon in one go. We 5 are not reliant on ‘anyone else” yf “ew ‘> the early days such as: "Why ae you going to Croydon? Shoreditch it $0.600.” But why not? "from south Landon. The whole concept youhave tobe in a cool area to do business irideulous. We did build good name in Shoreditch but the reality is that when we set up there it was never about food and dink, We sort of accidentally fell into that side, Two-thirds of Bospark Shoreditch was about selling fshion, gifts and jewolon Food and drink wae the aftethought based on hoving a food court ares upstairs, . PC: Did It help thatthe first Boxpark was near Shoreditch House? RW: When we atived in 2011 alot of those guys such as Lyl's wocert thee. If there was one thing tha started the revtalsation ‘of Shoreditch, though, it was Shoreditch House, Itwis the beginnings of something eally fantastic. We'te naw in our sixth year there. © 26 PROPEL QUARTERLY = SUMMER 2017 = wwn:propelhospitalily.com£500,000 reenter ce eeeeety Pee tere — PC: Have you extended your lease at Boxpark Shoreditch? RW: We have extended the lease and renovated our entire top floor. Our future isn food and drink 0 we wanted Shoreditch ta reflect that We are spending halla milion pounds to upgrade the whale food ares uptairs to make its beter environment The orginal plan was to make the ste last only five yeas but we got an extersion onthe lease to take it upto eight years However it needs improvement. ‘mnt realy bothered about ‘whether we have premium brands ~ we have an understanding customer base whe lke stieet food and casual ining, We just wantto have some unique oflers. We want to have gre ‘operators and, atthe same time, we want to bing in guys who have been trading at street food markets. Experience hes prove tous you need a lot of good operators so we do alot of work with Fula Shore Group and 'm net saying they are coming in, but they've got people like Franco Manca and The Real Greek They are the ideal types for us because they are stil niche but really wel tun Alongside them, we've got guys such as vegan restaurant CootDaily which hat bean phenomenally succes ‘We are going to bring over some tenants frm Boxpark Croydon and some tenants already in Shoreditch wl take some bigger units and replace a couple we don't feel ae performing well T'm not really bothered about whether we have premium brands - we have an understanding customer base who like street food and casual dining. We just want to have some unique offers’ PC: Isa food and drink offering a canny way to retain a captive audionce for the retal outlets? RW: We soon came tothe conclusion we weren't going to compote as a etal develope’ with Urban Outfitters next door ‘or Westfield down the road. The preblem i tying to getthe 2B PROPEL QUARTERLY = SUMMER 2017 Fightbrands. People don't understand the subtle nuances of dealing with the fashion industry Retales get call from larger ‘etales saying: "I don't want you going into there because we ate aveady stocking them around the corr” The fashion Fetal industry unlike a ot of ether incisties, We came to the conclusion we needed to focus on a specialised sector For me, the eal growth sector was casual dining and, increasingly, people have got less andlless time and are eating out more and ‘mote. Ifyou look at places like the US, its not uncommon fo people to eat out seven days a week. London has a long way te goto get to that culture but we believe itis goingto be the trench We jst want to have 2 focused offering that wl specialise in eatual dining, That ie us now PC: How would you sum up the Boxpark concept? RW: Its an organism. An organism needs to survive and te survive it needs to evolve, You have to understand the importance of elution. I we stood atl with cur original Boxpark offering we wouldn't be alive today We tied lot of different things ~ some things worked and some things diet butwe evolved to whats Boxpark Croydon and it working fer us in 8 major way. Thats what were rolling out. To sum up how we think, we ae pushing the absolute Boundsries of retail development, No athe etal develapment company came slong before Boxpark and built temporary development based on only being therefor five years and spending £2m, We have spent £m on Boxpark Croydon an the batis we vill be therefor jute, five year, Ofcourse wa vant to be longer but we have resized there isnt ust one type of model We're tying to create the concept that f you eat out, you dont have to decide among your group ifyou'e going to have indian or Chinese food, you can have ll of that and bring itback to contra space, We have tied to embrace the digital sie ofthe sector too, We have Wied to push the boundaries of social media and act asa conduit driving 'to our curtomers, We already supply our tenants with PoS and carryout marketing fer them. c ‘ne propethospitality.combis PC: Boxpark has embraced the Deliveroo concept too, hasn't Ht? RW: From our perspective, Deliveroo i the fastest-growing delvary service in Europe. We know the guys well |thinkwhat they do ie ® complete game changer and ell suts cur business model Ineressingy hat we want to encourage people to dost Boxpark isnot just st inthe restaurant but grab some takeanay food and bring tothe central eating area, Histoial, in a restaurant you'd perhaps retain one-third of the space forthe kitchen and now, ineressingly | believe people wil take malar epacee and treat it ‘more lke 8 Domino’ Pata concept where two-thirds of the spaces forthe ktchen, with a dedicated takeaway offering, Of couse, you are going to get restaurants where the whole experience happens round you but here isa whole other model out there based on| people wanting convenience When people want convenience {you need to incorporate companies such ar Oslveroo, We see the future as increasingly about smaller units tat ar all about the kitchen wth a takeaway courter and where peop can eat either outside or get a delivery |e that as mare of» growing trend, Deliveroo had aspirations to launch in Croydon and the realty is we ‘un two-ticds of the restauents in Croydon. tthe same time we tld look atta a tivest. We locked at it tan opportunity. PC: What makes Boxpark’s central dining aspect stand out? RW: We believe etallis entertainment Eating int about shoving food in your face and going of shopping, Our dream customer is someane who chooses to come to Boxpark and spends the day with us, We want them to take @ meal, sit on our benches, maybe Watch free entertainment and tthe end ofthe day go into our bar and dance the night avy. tis alaye going to be social So ‘many people run businesses based on a business plan or a Bunch cof numbers, we don't we run things based on feelings. want fveryone to come to Boxpark and foe the experience i special Ibliave we have gone along way to achieve that in Croydon, ‘You walkin and say: “Wow! Ive not seen anything lik this!” Not justin terms ofthe architecture but in terms ofthe tenants and the ertertainmert. We want people to come to Baxpark and feel special and be entertained in a special environment. ho would you say is your main competitor? RW: Ultimately, our competitor isnt another restaurant or ‘motorway sevice station food court isthe home, You alays yy ry ai 77] — ies have ta look at what wil get people off their sofas and out the {door | think our offering will do that. An example ofthat is rugby. \We showed games from the Si Nations tournament st Boxpark Getting to and from Twickenham is a nightmare 20 we wanted to.creste the next-best enviornment, Twickenham isn't that far from us and we realised fans were coming to Boxpark to have. lunch and watch rugby on the big seen. At the ond'of the ‘geme, everyone was getting @ din from the bar and bringing the place toa dferant level Wa want to create theultimate fanzone at Boxpark Also, artists such as orm star Stormy came to Boxpsrk to launch his album. It meant alot tous because wo wanted to bring Stoimay back 1 hishome town a atime when there were major iss with knife crime in Croydon, We ‘wanted to send » message tothe youths to say: “Look, there’ stemative, Here i local man and lack at what hei doing ” We did't charge for that event. In the ist three months at Boxoark Croydon we had 60 events, and 89 of them were free, We are funding all that because nie the sence station food court concept or the people who work there who see each customer ‘28 2 rumber or pound sign we see our customer as special. Iti ‘our responsibilty ta entertain them so they keep coming bck, Its that which sets us apart. | believe we have created something twuly special and taken something to different level. There may bbe other guys doing something similar now, but we stated the PC: What have you learned and what do you want te retain ‘as Boxpark entrepreneur? RW: We loamed a ot of things from sunning a svect wear brand for 20 years. One of my favourite brands was Carhart, ‘which we were invalvedin starting, Carhartt owners have naver ‘compromised their brand, kept true to ther roots and never sold out, They have made the right long-term decisions ~ and those ae the same decisions Boxparkis taking. On paper, our investors are arking why we are spancing hala milion pounds fon Shoreditch with only two years left onthe lease? I reply: "No matter what, we are never going to have such a high-praflesite Thies our start and its mportant people remember that and it doesn't just dif slong over the next two years. Even we don't make any money ont, what that will do for us is establish the long-term brand awarenass for many years to come." © 30 PROPEL QUARTERLY = SUMMER 2017 = www.propelhosptaliy.comPC: Are there similarities between Boxpark and Brighton and Hove's historic North Laine area? RW: Absolutely. live in Hove and am 100% inspired by my local ‘environment. People love those small shops and they are about the same size as container ~ about 300 square feet. We have brought some of those stores to Boxpark, My parents used to take me to Greenwich Market and my frst business was there. loved the whole concept of markets. loved that you went there nd got beautfl things from great stalholders who were all individuals. In many ways we are tying to recreate a ist cantury version of Covent Garden Market. Every high street isthe same and what we wanted to do was recreate a high street based ‘on what works in Noth Laine, which i fl of independent, independent stores are popular in Brighton, why can they be popular in Bristol or Leech? Our point of diferenceis we believe in independent brands.’ not thei saviour bu belive the customer wants to feel special and warts something unique. That is what we are trying to achieve at Boxpatk, but the problem independent brands have is they don't have the resourees to compete PC: Ifyou had your time again, what would you do differently in business? RW | wouldnt beat myselfup about my mistakes. What | realized with the benefit of turing 50% all the thing | crested came out of adversity. ne example is Boxpark Croydon, which comes from a time when we were strugging to make pure physical retal ard hard goods work. forced me to think about what we needed. We decided to create an events space and grew it. That led us to food and tink Inthe ast, "d have looked at adversity a8 2 bd thing but now | think ts a great thing, because the same adversity face is the same adversity my competitors face. Our pint of ciference is going to be how we rise to that adversity Te say that to every entrepreneur ~ the challenges you face are not just yours alone. Youlook at the problems and what you can cdo batter to resolve them, You could argue 3 lt of the stren and casual dining evolution comes out ofthe fact ps wanted a alifferont way of eating. The pop-up industry came about from a desse for afferent kind of retail Retailers i’ want 1 have tenyear leases round theirnecks, they wanted to have short-term places so they could show people @ product and have the freedom to get out too, PC: When do you think the casual dining and street food revolution began? RW: There were some great originators around atthe same te 2s the smoking ban came into eect. In casual dining, Dominic Coo's-Lertigue founded Street Feast and was a true visionary, He was the right uy in the right place and spotted something in the US that he bcought to the UK. He was the right guy because he came from an entertainment background. He combined the world of entertainment andsteet food and then all the poss Soot Feast got caused 2 mini-explosion. thine wo have to ‘ive credit to people like Dominic, who did a fantastic job of marketing. There were also the frst gasto-pubs. | remember going tothe Lansdowne in Primrose Hil about 30 years ago and itwas a gastropub. The woman who started the Lansdowne came from The Eagle in Faringdon and had run the pub a gastro. When you get afew people challencing the status quo and doing something abit diferert, it xeates a now explosion ‘We have been a part ofthat with the “container” explosion loads of people are doing itnow and sil saying pop-ups are going to change the werld, I didnt begin like that, though. The idea of @ pop-up was to do something fora limited time, but then you suddenly get buzzwords everyone uses and people ride them and hold on to therm until suddenly isa “revolution PC: How will casual dining concepts evolve to meet consumer needs inthe digital age? RW: In thisincressingly digital age we sre lec ta beliave we could create 2 homogenous nation where we're all the same. Actual, the reverse has happened. We have instant accesso information| bout whats happening rom Tokyo to San Francisco at the ‘ouch of button, But whatis mad sit has created pecple who want tobe individuals but also part ofa vibe. People want to fe! special and diferent from others, think these zs caft beer came from a desie for people to feel ferent. The Shoreditch bearded hipster and craft beer went hand in hand, but | also feel youhave revolutions when people want to fee ferent. © lions - auch ‘wwwpropelhosptalty.com * SUMMER 2017 PROPEL QUARTERLY 83.ETN Cea} Tey 13 RW | believe you have tobe great st thee things and ifyou are bad at one of thom, you will go under Great content: i's restaurant you need fantastic food, good environment and 8 reasonable price point The content has tehave a major tek Trafle: You can have the greatest content in the world but i o-one finds you and you don't get wali you won't exist. You need an ideal patton that i not too mainsveam and not too) far off the beaten track. The problem for most smaller brands or street food vendors ia lot of them have great content and are really good 2 the product sde of tings but they don't have the financial co 3 the location they requite. We look at brand and as: "Will t work?” the suength of the artnerthips Ifyou are slow and don't serve people val it lets down the experience and you wil stuggle. Alot of independents stugole with things such as outside land security, We try to allow the smaller independent bran to focus on what they are goad at increasingly about partnerships and people have to remember the importance of these elements. ‘content. Bus RW: We have unique and smaller offers as ol as bigger ‘operators auch as Breakfast Club, Croydon didn't have one, £0 we made a balance. We have some of the bigger guys Uupstars and have launched YO! Sushi with anes concept. It isthe ist YO! Sushi venue that does not feature conveyor belt and the company has taken the smallest unit it could nave ever taken in any retail development. The company has started to realise business models need to change. I is what I would describe as a Domino’ franchise. One of the units nas half ts aquare footage asa takeaway counter. People are raming their models as purely dedicated to the kitchen area land perhaps they know the majvity of their business will come from takeaway. | went to Sussex University, gota few jobs in advertising and was sacked from my frst three jobs. My lst jb was in the States and | cama tothe conclusion | was unemployable. | had some friends | ured to play football with inthe UK Alastair Hook, co-founder of Meantime Brewery, Ben Joseph, Meantime co-founder and owner of the Carhart. Clothing brand inthe UK. and Ray Richardson, who was also ' Meantime investor. Thay were all requesting sportswear from Now York s0 | used to send stuff back tothe UK. Then, with Ben, we started seling sportswear to shops. After that, Ben and | hooked up with designers who helped us take it to market and we created our own brand ~ Boxfresh ~ in 1989 and ran that for almost 20 years. We started Carhartt inthe UK and were probably the frst Importer and stockists of G-Star. We sold that to Pentland Brands. While | had Boxfresh I started the fst container store, which used to bring to trade shows. | went on to become a brand consultant for people such as Superdry and Timothy Edwards. However, | couldn't get the ida of Container shops out of my mind. | always loved the ides of industrialised architecture and felt it would resolve come problems. Ihad about dozen shops. | remember | was losing two shops - one in Brighton and one in Manchester ~ and wrote of about a quarter ofa milion at each. Rather than write-off the shops, I wished I could jst piek them up and drop them in another place. ‘A mate used to run a burger joint and turn up with hie twller and park it where he wanted. The new owners of Boxfresh thought it was crazy. After we sold, people were ringing me up and asking what | was doing? had a mate in the States who hed been cunning a retail development and woke up one day and thought | would run a whole retail evelopment out of containers that would be @ home for independant brands. | put itn Shoreditch because that’ “hore Boxfroch was based and | know Shoreditch realy wal By chance, | was offered the land and the rests histor. | have iterally gone from owning 2 few stores to running a retail development. ‘84 PROPEL QUARTERLY * SUMMER 2017 = wivw.propelhospitality.com