Spa Esprit Group puts cafe and beauty brands under one roof in London

A Wanted Man Espresso Canteen opened under a soft launch last week within a three-storey building on Chelsea's Kings' Road where it is accompanied by a brow bar (Browhaus) and waxing salon (Ministry of Waxing). 

The ground-floor Western-themed café will serve food from 8am to 7pm daily with chefs Benjamin Darnaud and Vincent Dery creating dishes such as roasted seasonal vegetables with sauerkraut and satay sauce and sourdough waffle with salted peanut cream, blueberry jam and roasted pecans. 

Coffee is provided by the company's Singaporean-based speciality coffee brand Common Man Coffee Roasters. 

Multi-use venue​

Spa Esprit Group founder Cynthia Chua told BigHospitality that while her beauty brands were already in five locations in London, the beauty block marked the arrival of one of her food and beverage concepts to the UK for the first time. 

She also said the multi-use venue, also a first for Spa Esprit Group, was a chance to reach a greater customer base. 

"Our beauty services are unisex, but still they are used by 80 per cent female and 20 per cent male," she said. "Beauty touches a certain type of profile, but I feel that a café touches everybody, so we can reach out to more people.

"We did really well with this coffee in Singapore and when we did our research in London we found it hard to find speciality coffee in Chelsea, so when the block came about we thought it would be a good idea to do something that could reach out to a bigger crowd. When the women are having a treatment upstairs the guys are hanging out downstairs, or vice versa." 

Dwell time​

Chua, whose company operates 16 beauty and food and beverage brands, said the benefits of having different services under one roof, was a chance to cross-promote and improve dwell time. 

"The café reaches out to people and the beauty is another avenue that can provide a different service," she said. "We have been thinking of ways to cross-promote - packaging a hot chocolate with a Brazilian wax, for example. They are a natural fit.

"It is also somewhere that can appeal to everyone. We called it a Wanted Man  We as we wanted it to appeal to men too. A lot of men wouldn’t walk into a beauty salon, but the décor is very cowboy and masculine so this way they would feel more comfortable."

Chua said Spa Esprit Group was currently looking at launching some of its other food and beverage brands, which include include Tiong Bahru Bakery, Skinny Pizza and restaurant and bar Tippling Club, in the UK. 

"It could be a standalone in Soho or South Kensington. We’re looking at doing more in London. We’ve got such interesting food brands in Singapore that are doing well. We’re currently studying London and seeing what would work," she said.