The team behind Kentish Town’s Beef & Brew is planning its expansion following a successful crowd funding campaign in December, report Big Hospitality.
Founders Jessica Simmonds and Daniel Nathan raised close to £257,000 through the Seedrs crowdfunding-for-equity platform with an aim to pursue their original vision of Beef & Brew — a multi-site business with a dual focus on quality and simplicity that they hope will be insulated from the current turmoil of the casual dining market by its accessibility and replicability.
There have been a number of high profile closures and downsizings of casual dining brands in recent months, but the Beef & Brew founders are confident they “occupy a relatively unique space” of the market, and that their focus on being the “best quality possible... without breaking the bank” will mean they can find success in more local neighbourhoods than their high street competitors.
Founding executive chef Simmonds (formally of Michelin-starred Murano) built the Beef & Brew menu around cheaper cuts — their core product is a £10 hanger steak (onglet) steak — of high quality meats which are cooked over charcoal to bring out their “really punchy” flavours. Other menu items include complementary snacks and sides like smoked pig’s cheek on toast, or poutine — that cult Quebecois combination of chips, gravy and (at Beef & Brew) “beer cheese”.
The Beef & Brew menu also offers a £10 weekday lunch of hanger steak and chips that it claims is “the best value lunch deal in London,” while the same is also available as an “early-bird” dinner menu they hope will cement them as a local favourite while increasing trade during otherwise quiet service periods.
According to its crowd funding materials, Beef & Brew are investigating a shortlist of sites, and have been focussing on city-fringe neighbourhoods like West Hampstead, Dalston, Brixton, though there is as yet no confirmed location for their second venue.