Catch up TV

Series 1: 7. Shock of the New

Transforming a casual dining concept into a chain of restaurants is one of the most high-risk ventures in hospitality. To find out where scalable ideas originate, Tom goes behind the scenes at two restaurants looking to roll out their concepts and also shares his own rollout plans.\n\nHarvest is a new fusion restaurant right next to Windsor Castle. It’s the brainchild of Rachel Olatoke and her husband Osa, who hatched the idea at home during lockdown. On the restaurant’s extensive menu, popular Caribbean dishes sit alongside west African dishes. For Rachel, Harvest is a way to celebrate her heritage with the people of Windsor. \n\nThe couple have sunk their life savings into the venture but, despite the restaurant being busy, they aren’t yet making a profit. They need to turn things round to have any chance of growing the Harvest brand, but the size and pricing of the menu may be holding them back. The couple are given a much-needed boost when they secure a £10,000 grant from the Uber Eats Black Business Fund, and Rachel decides to put the money towards an overhaul of the menu.\n\nStem and Glory is a vegan restaurant that began in Cambridge and has since expanded into London. The restaurant has won plaudits for the quality of its high-end plant-based menu and its sustainability practices. Founder Louise Palmer-Masterton turned to crowd-funding to finance the brand’s growth, raising £5 million in seven years. Now Louise and head chef Eddie Al-Sabai are taking the biggest risk to date, opening a third branch of Stem and Glory in a prime location in the City of London.\n\nTom’s most informal restaurant is The Butcher’s Tap and Grill, a pub-cum-butcher's shop serving steaks and burgers. He believes the concept could be repeated elsewhere, and has his sights set on a vacant pub in London’s Chelsea. But will the escalating cost of refurbishment derail the project?

Source: BBC 2