Full steam ahead

Having started life as a traditional fried chicken shop in Ealing Broadway in 1992, Roosters Piri Piri has come a long way since then. For one thing, the chicken is now steam cooked, but more significantly founder Khalid Mirza’s one shop has grown to 42, with ambitious plans to reach 100 within the next three years.

“We did a 99p burger and all your generic fried chicken meals – it was a bit of a rip off of KFC at the time, and wasn’t very innovative,” admits director of UK and global franchising Shahid Hussain. Nevertheless, it traded well, and grew to a handful of sites over the next few years, with one of its main points of difference that it was a halal chicken shop – something that was less common at the time.

However, Mirza was keen to innovate and get ahead of the trends in the fast-casual-dining market, and had noticed that upcoming brands like Nando’s were doing well. “We also noticed a gap in the market for grilled food, which we moved to around 2010,” says Hussain.

“Three years after that we noticed there was also a gap for healthy fast food, so we worked with our chefs and menu development team to make sure our food is low in fats, calories and saturates,” he says. “We also refined our cooking process as well. Now all our poultry products are marinated for 24 hours and then steam cooked.”

These changes are have helped the brand to stand out, he says. “It is still a work in progress and it is a very crowded market; we are constantly looking to innovate,” adds Hussain.

Its menu offers various wraps – with meats marinated in a choice of four different flavours, including its signature piri piri sauce – as well as burgers, salads, grilled meat platters and desserts. While its flavourings are all gluten, nut, and wheat-free, in order to appeal to the widest possible consumer base. Another strength of the business is it owns its entire supply chain, adds Hussain. It set up its logistics arms, which also supplies other restaurant businesses, at the same time as it opened its first shop, and controls the process from the factory to the food on people’s plates.

Whether it has been the ability to stay ahead of the trends, or the quality of the offer, the business has continued to grow over the years – sales are up approximately 5% for the financial year to date – and now operates a predominately franchised operation. “We started with company-owned sites but decided that franchising was the way to go. About 80% of the estate is franchised, but we like to have around five or six company-owned sites open, as those locations can test products and also act as training centres for new franchisees,” he explains.

Although a number of its franchisees operate single sites, Roosters is keen for them to have the ambition to operate several. “Moving forward, as we are a bigger brand, we can be a bit more selective when it comes to who we take on as franchisees. But we always look for ambition. We don’t want someone to come and in and say they just want one branch, we want them to say ‘I want 10 branches in the next five years’,” he says.

However, ambition is by no means the key to success. Hussain admits they have had issues with some franchisees – for example, operators introducing new menu items without consultation – and stores that were failing, but have learnt from their mistakes and do their best to ensure consistency is driven by its operations team. “We had to take back our Harrow store from a franchise site, to company-owned, but we have turned it around and boosted sales by three times the previous figure,” he says.

“If you have 40 different franchisees, you can have 40 different opinions,” he says. “So it’s about getting those people into the mindset of thinking like a brand and not as an individual,”

Taking new territory

The business currently has strong coverage in the south and south-east of England and is looking to extend its presence across the UK. It currently has sites in Leeds and Nottingham, and is actively looking at cities including Manchester, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham and, potentially, Belfast. “If we can get those stores open, we can say we are a truly UK-wide brand.” Hussain says it has been keen to open in Manchester for a while, and has a dark kitchen concept that it is looking to open in the city should a suitable restaurant site not crop up, which would be available through multiple delivery operators.

It opened its latest store on Church Street in Enfield, north London, just before Christmas, and is looking to reach 50 in early 2019, before adding a further c20 next year and c30 in 2020. Upcoming openings include Portsmouth and Canterbury.

And the brand isn’t channelling all of its growth in the UK market. Roosters opened its first site in north Africa last year, in Libya, and it currently has three restaurants in Ireland. Australia, Canada, Oman, Pakistan and South Africa are also areas it is exploring in terms of overseas franchise operations, while it is close to agreeing a deal in Bangladesh, which could see three sites open: in Sylhet, Dhaka and Chittagong, says Hussain.

Historically, it has gone for locations with a large Muslim population, but not anymore. “To offer halal meat is a good USP for us, but not something that we believe makes us truly different from our competitors,” he says. Now the business looks at a range of criteria, and it is keen on locations that have a big student population, as well as nearby gyms, to attract those wanting a healthier option to other fast food.

It used to opt for high-street locations but they don’t always work best and, due to the wider pressures being seen on the high street, the business is open to other types of location, including shopping centres – as long as it can work with the more stringent regulations and often early closing times. It recently opened in the food court at The Core Shopping Centre in central Leeds. However, Hussain says we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the high street to regenerate itself. In terms of delivery, it is also a good shop window, because even if people don’t come into the shop they become familiar with the brand and will order from you online, he says.

The growth of the delivery side of its business – some sites take up to 70% of their sales from delivery – and increasing business rates has led Roosters to look at opening smaller-scale restaurants, explains Hussain. While the size of its current sites does vary – Mile End in east London can seat around 80 people, while other sites only have space for 10 covers – the business is generally looking for space of around 1,000sq ft, rather than 3,000sq ft areas it would have previously considered, where the business can still fit in around 30 to 35 seats.

“We don’t want to cheapen the brand and go for tiny sites that are takeaway only. We still want to be a place where people can come with their family or friends. We still want that restaurant atmosphere,” he says.

Collection is future focus

In addition to its growing delivery business – it has corporate deals with Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat – the business is also looking to develop the collection side of the business, and has developed a new app that is designed to make this easier. “There are lots of students in areas like Mile End, and it would enable them to quickly pick up some food between lectures,” he says. Roosters is also looking to update its current stamp system loyalty card so that it is linked to the app.

Other recent developments include new packaging, which is made from 70% recycled materials, in order to keep up with consumer demand for eco-friendly packaging. It is also looking at different options for the packaging of its delivered food in order to retain heat more effectively.

Roosters is certainly not happy to rest on its laurels. Hussain discusses the long list of things that will significantly affect the business in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but remains upbeat about the future. “We are preparing and thinking ahead. We will always try to find a way around problems and try to innovate,” he says. In his eyes, the outlook is only positive.