Fred Sirieix welcomes Bubble&, a bubble and squeak stall, and Dynasty, a high-end Korean idea, to Manchester. Dynasty is looking for £600,000 to open in central London. Bubble& is looking for £40,000 to roll out nationwide and become the British pasta.
Dynasty is the brainchild of 42-year-old Jay Morjaria, who grew up surrounded by cooking when his parents ran Indian vegetarian restaurants. Seven years ago, Jay gave up his job as a supermarket buyer to pursue his passion and opened a vegetarian cookery school in London. He then decided to explore East Asian cuisine and worked in restaurants in Korea before opening Dynasty as an occasional, sell-out supper club, serving vegan-friendly dishes with a few meat sides. Jay's ambition is to curate a group of East Asian-inspired restaurants, and he is looking for £600k to open Dynasty as the first. Two investors are interested in Dynasty. One is Lydia Forte of the five-star Rocco Forte Hotels group with hotels in London, Edinburgh and across Europe, who is looking for new concepts to fit into her luxury hotels. She normally works with Michelin-starred chefs and has openings in London, Edinburgh and Berlin. The other investor is Darrel Connell, partner with IMBIBA Partnership, an investment group that specialises in backing and growing high-end bar and restaurant concepts. To date IMBIBA has backed over 100 individual F&B businesses across 16 different brands.
Bubble& was created by husband-and-wife team Rupert and Marita in 2013. Rupert was a head chef in a gastropub and noticed that bubble and squeak was a big seller, yet was marketed as a leftover dish. He had a lightbulb moment: imagining that bubble and squeak could be as versatile as pizza and pasta, he gave up his job to open a food stall. His dishes won two Great Taste Awards and customers queued for his bubble & classic, topped with a poached egg, hollandaise sauce and bacon, and his bubble & halloumi curry, topped with a halloumi curry. Now he and Marita want to open Bubble& as a national chain. Two investors want to see Bubble& in Manchester. The first is David Page, chairman of restaurant investment vehicle Fulham Shore and one of the UK's most successful investors - the man behind national brands including Pizza Express, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the Real Greek and Franco Manca. David is always looking for simple ideas that can be rolled out into national brands. The second investor is Atul Kochar, chef and entrepreneur. Atul became the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star in the UK and owns Benares, a Michelin-starred Indian restaurant in Mayfair. In addition, he has a portfolio of seven other restaurants and six more on board P&O cruisers. The total value of his group is £13m - £15m.
Can these two ideas convince the investors they have what it takes to become successful restaurant businesses? Or will their originators leave Manchester with nothing? They have three days to prove themselves. Show less