Brighton's The Bok Shop plans expansion

Having recently secured £1.2m in private equity funding, the group is looking to establish a series of both restaurant locations and counter-style takeaway and delivery sites.

The rollout will begin with a 100-cover site in Southampton’s West Quay that's set to open this summer. 

Inspired by London’s chicken shop culture, The Bok Shop opened its first site on Brighton's East Street in 2017. 

Founders Jamie O’Mara, Howard Kaye, Saul Burman and Matthew Dimmack teamed up with chef Adam O’Shepherd to create the menu, which features a selection of burgers, wings and tenders alongside a range of sauces and toppings influenced by the flavours of Asia and the Southern US.

A range of vegan dishes is also available.

In 2018, after building a local following in Brighton, the team expanded and opened a 90-cover restaurant complete with retro arcade machines in Eastbourne’s The Beacon.

A dark kitchen site was subsequently launched in Croydon.

In response to the pandemic, the group also created a purpose-built ‘Cluck & Collect' takeaway app and saw revenues 'surge' across all three sites.

“We never in our wildest dreams thought that we would be sharing what we created at our little shop in Brighton with the rest of the UK," says O’Mara.

"It’s been a hard slog filled with failures and success’, amplified by the pandemic, but all in the name of growth both as individuals and as a company.

"We feel there is a gap in the market for a quality chicken inspired offer like ours, what Honest Burger has done to burgers, or Pizza Pilgrims has done with Pizza. We want to do that for chicken. We’ve lived and breathed The Bok Shop and the hospitality industry since opening the doors [in Brighton] in 2017 and we can’t wait to share the journey."

The Bok Shop is one of a clutch of 'better chicken' operators currently planning significant post-pandemic expansion, with London-based brands Coqfighter, The Orange Buffalo and Thunderbird all looking to grow their estates in the coming months.