Be At One plans expansion with £8m Piper investment

Currently the operator of 12 cocktail bars in London, Be At One aims to have up to 30 sites by the end of 2016 and is hoping the investment by Piper, founder and developer of the Pitcher & Piano bar chain and an investor in Las Iguanas, will enable it to do so.

“We had an opportunity to work with a number of different investors but selected Piper on the basis of the team’s deep understanding of our brand and customers, their experience and reputation for success in the bar and restaurant space and for the value we believe they can add to our business during the lifetime of the investment,” said Be At One co-founder Steve Locke.

Expansion plan ​

A spokesman for the company said expansion would be focused ‘predominantly ‘ in London.

“There is still a lot of potential in London,” he said. “The company is always on the look-out for new sites and now with this investment it will be able to happen quicker.”

Be At One, founded in 1998 by former TGI Fridays bartenders Locke, Rhys Oldfield and Leigh Miller, opened its twelfth site in Monument earlier this year and announced then it had an ‘ambitious’ expansion plan in place.

The company has also appointed Andrew Stones, formerly of Whitbread, Wetherspoons and Pizza Hut operations director and Mark Derry of Loch Fyne and Brasserie Blanc as chairman.

Peter Kemp-Welch of Piper said: “We are backing a strong, driven management team who are passionate about their business, resulting in exceptional ROI and business models and outstanding trading results, even in the current climate.

“We have an aggressive roll out programme and believe the Be At One proposition has enormous potential in a wide range of locations.”