Byron hamburgers to open first Welsh site in Cardiff
The 5,150 sq ft venue will be across two levels, and will join a range of other high-street casual dining brands in the 30,000 sq ft Grand Arcade development, including Wahaca, Wagamama, and Jamie’s Italian.
The restaurant will feature external frontage and be close to the John Lewis department store.
“We couldn’t be happier to be bringing proper hamburgers to Wales,” says Paul Coppin, marketing director at Byron. “Over the years we’ve had more and more customers ask when we’ll be opening here, so it’s a real pleasure to finally be able to give them the answer they’re looking for.”
The St David’s Partnership development is a joint venture between Land Securities and intu.
“Byron is exciting brand for St David’s,” says Colin Flinn, regional director at intu. “This new signing highlights our ability to attract well-known restaurant names looking to secure their flagship sites outside of London.”
Byron first launched in 2007, and aims to serve what it calls ‘proper hamburgers’, using British beef or chicken breast, plus craft beers, and ‘extra-thick’ milkshakes, plus salads, and sides such as cheese fries, courgette fries, onion rings, and macaroni cheese.
Founder Byng created the group after spending four years in the USA before returning to the UK, and realising he couldn’t get the same quality of burgers he’d come to love in Rhode Island.
The former chief executive stepped down from his role in December 2016, but continues as a shareholder and adviser to the board.
The group was sold for £100m in 2013 by the Gondola Group to the Hutton Collins Partnership, and has almost doubled its estate since.
It now runs to 40 sites in London, and over 30 sites across the rest of the UK, including across the South including Southampton, Bristol, Norwich, Cambridge and Oxford; North including Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool; Midlands including Leicester and Birmingham; and Scotland including Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.
In August last year it came in for criticism and was reportedly forced to close two of its stores after allegedly 'tricking' illegally-working staff into being deported.
