The Bok Shop lines up Hastings opening ahead of wider rollout
The openings represent the first phase of wider expansion plan that is expected to see The Bok Shop open a total of 10 new sites in the UK over the next two years.
Four weeks after the Hastings launch, the group head to Southampton’s West Quay to open a 100-cover site that was first announced back in February.
The expansion comes off the back of a £1.2m private equity investment, with The Bok Shop looking to establish a series of both restaurant locations and counter-style takeaway and delivery sites.
“Things are seriously looking up since last year," says Jamie O’Mara, who founded the brand with friends Howard Kaye, Saul Burman and Matthew Dimmack.
"We’ve gone from not knowing if we’d ever open our restaurant doors again to opening two new ones in just a few weeks of each other.
"As we’ve designed the restaurants ourselves, this part of the journey has been a real creative and technical test and we’ve loved every second of it.”
Inspired by London’s chicken shop culture, The Bok Shop opened its first restaurant on Brighton's East Street in 2017.
It has subsequently gone on to launch a second bricks and mortar site in Eastbourne, as well as a dark kitchen in Croydon.
The founders 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.
Signature dishes include the Bokadoosh, wings or tenders smothered in a fiery Korean style sauce; and the Jennifer Buffalopez burger featuring a crispy fried chicken thigh covered in sweet honey and ginger buffalo sauce, and topped with a blue cheese sauce and pickled celery.
Many of the menu items can also be made veggie or vegan.
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 currently on the expansion trail.
