Burger & Lobster, the burgeoning restaurant group that reignited demand for lobster in the capital when it launched in Mayfair in 2011, opened its first non-London UK restaurant, in Cardiff, late last year and will continue to expand across the country. On its opening day, the 240-cover restaurant served about 200 customers at lunchtime alone. A Burger & Lobster will open in Manchester in the spring, and the brand is coming to Bath this summer and Liverpool later in the year. Three more London sites will also come on stream in 2015.
Simon King, Burger & Lobster managing director, says the crustacean will be found on more menus across the country this year. “If you go back 20 years, people didn’t have king prawns, now you can get them almost anywhere,” he says. “It’s not going to be exactly the same with lobsters, as keeping them alive is difficult, but we are still going to see lobster become more commonplace on menus.”
Burger & Lobster charges £20 for a one-and-a-half pound lobster, and King believes rivals will struggle to meet that price. Many are, however, selling smaller lobsters. “In Cardiff there is a 30-year-old restaurant that has now started selling one-pound lobsters for £18,” says King. “I don’t know for sure whether that’s because of us being here, but it seems likely. The price point of lobster is dropping.”
Lobster roll formats
The emergence of lobster roll formats, three of which opened in the capital within a mile of each other at the tail-end of last year, is making the delicacy even more affordable. Fraq’s Lobster Shack, an eat-in and takeaway restaurant opened in Goodge Street in December, along with Lobster Kitchen, which opened down the road on Great Russell Street. Smack Deli, operated by Burger & Lobster owner Goodman Restaurant Group, has also opened on Binney Street, just off Oxford Circus.
Fraq’s sells a lobster roll for £15 while Lobster Kitchen’s cost £12. However, Smack Deli’s offer is by far the cheapest at £9 for a large roll, thanks to the group’s ability to buy a whole catch of lobster, placing it in a similar price bracket to a gourmet burger. “What our competitors will be able to charge in the future depends on their ambitions,” says King. “If they decide to open more places, that will bring the price down.”
The UK’s appetite for lobster is at an all-time high thanks to its growing availability and low price. Before Christmas, retailer Iceland struggled to keep up with demand for its whole Canadian lobster, which it was selling for just £5.
More Smack Delis will open “without a doubt”, according to King, due to the popularity of its debut site.
This article first appeared in the January edition of Restaurant magazine. To view the digital edition click here. To subscribe click here.