Latest opening: Ajia

Ajia offers Busaba a new avenue with which to enliven its brand image, but will also move it into an increasingly crowded pan-Asian space, says James McAllister​

Even before the pandemic hit, Busaba had faced a tough few years. Once the darling of the Thai restaurant scene, the group had been hit by a series of closures between 2017 and 2019 that saw it retreat from what was an aggressive regional expansion drive and fall back to its London heartland. Then Covid arrived, and it became one of dozens of casual dining chains forced to restructure its business via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in a bid to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus crisis.

Now, though, Busaba looks to be on the rebound. Last year, the group launched its first restaurant in Wales within Cardiff’s Brewery Quarter, and now it’s opened in Oxford; a move that also heralds the launch of Ajia - a cocktail bar ‘inspired by the flavours of Asia’.

As Neve Rabbou, Busaba’s marketing director, puts it, the development and launch of Ajia was something of a happy accident for the group. “Terry [Harrison, Busaba MD] and I have been interested in exploring that more Korean and Japanese elements of Asian cuisine for a while,” she tells BigHospitality​ of the new brand’s conception. “When the Oxford site first came up, we liked it, but we both agreed the downstairs didn’t feel like Busaba. It was a grungy and cool underground space. That’s what planted the seed, and the idea stemmed from there.”

With its approachable, pan-Asian menu and eclectic cocktail offer, Ajia marks a departure for Busaba, but hangs on the coat tails of the growth in popularity of dishes such as Korean fried chicken and bao buns. While Aija might be able to sit comfortably next to (or indeed underneath) the group’s core brand and target a wider market share, there is a risk that it could confuse Busaba’s main Thai-based offer in the process.

Rabbou, who joined the group back in 2019 to oversee a 20^th​ anniversary rebrand of the business, and who has led the Ajia launch, has ambitions to grow the concept further alongside Busaba. “With our growth trajectory, any new sites we’re looking at now, we want them to have underground spaces so that we also have the space to launch Ajia there too,” she says. “Busaba is a 22-year-old business, so to have something new and fresh is very exciting.”

Plans are also being considered to further boost Ajia’s commercial potential by using Busaba’s partnership with Deliveroo to make both the food and cocktails available for delivery. Beyond that, there is a possible progression into standalone sites. “It definitely could move into that space,” says Rabbou. “But that would have to be part of a bigger conversation about our growth plans.”

Ajia offers Busaba a new way with which to boost its brand image and appeal to a new customer as it prepares to expand once again, but its pan-Asian approach risks diluting its core brand message and put its up against specialists in the field (Oxford is home to a number of restaurants serving Korean fried chicken and bao buns).

Busaba’s early strength was that it offered something new in a homogenous dining scene. A move into the now on-trend baos, Korean fried chicken and chilli beef fries (the only US-inspired dish on the menu) feels as much of a departure as it does progress. As such, Ajia is a brand to keep an eye on.