The UK’s original premium burger restaurant, Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), is continuing to expand its estate with four new openings planned in Glasgow, Watford, Swindon and Bromley.
The brand will open four new restaurants in the coming months: INTU Shopping Centre, Watford on 8th December, Glasgow St. Vincent Street on 11th December, Swindon Regent Circus on 21st January, followed by Bromley Widmore Road in early spring.
60 strong, more to come
Having opened their first restaurant in Battersea, London in 2001, GBK’s UK portfolio is now 60 strong with plans for further expansion. In the past month, GBK has opened in Aylesbury and early performance has been strong.
Plans are in place to open an additional ten restaurants in the next 12 months as part of a wider development drive. GBK plans to open at least a further 30 restaurants in the next three years, that will see its UK portfolio increase to almost 100 by 2018.
GBK is supporting this expansion by bolstering its property team. Douglas Collins formerly of Pizza Hut and Keith Harvey appointed from within GBK will lead on acquisitions as the brand’s estate grows. Stephen Evans, Development Director comments, “I am delighted to be working with Keith and Douglas. They bring with them a wealth of both operational and property experience which will help build a solid and sustainable pipeline in a challenging and competitive property market”
£3 million refurb programme
In addition to the new locations, GBK has invested over £3 million refurbishing its restaurants, 13 of which were in the last 12 months, as part of the ongoing refurbishment programme. This investment is already delivering positive returns for the brand. Working with a mix of designers, the new look GBK restaurants all include open kitchens and artisan fittings with many of the restaurant designs reflecting the heritage and history of the local areas.
Alasdair Murdoch, CEO of Gourmet Burger Kitchen said: “Since opening the first Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Battersea back in 2001, both the GBK brand and the UK burger category have seen significant growth. Customer appetite for premium burgers is stronger than ever before. We have always been proud to serve up a great variety of crafted gourmet burgers to our customers and we look forward to further growing our brand presence in new locations across the UK.”
New Locations:
GBK Glasgow, 65 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G25TF
GBK Watford, Unit 177 Harlequin Shopping Centre, High Street, Watford, WD17 2WS
GBK Swindon, Unit 6 Regent Circus, Swindon, SN1 1FA
GBK Bromley, 7 Widmore Road, Bromley, Kent, BR1 1RL
About Gourmet Burger Kitchen
In 2001, three kiwi guys set up the first GBK in Battersea, South London. Their philosophy was simple – to create a fresh, quality burger reminiscent of the gourmet burgers they were used to back in New Zealand. They were the first to introduce gourmet burgers to the London market and we still pride ourselves on serving up the freshest burgers; combining 100% prime beef, hand selected and traditionally reared on independent farms across the South West counties, with the freshest ingredients and sauces made from scratch every day in each GBK kitchen. We now have over 60 restaurants from Brighton to Edinburgh.
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