Honest Burgers - Rollout Strategy​

 

About the brand

Honest Burgers is a UK burger chain inspired by locally sourced Great British produce​.

The chain is known for offering quality dry aged meat and homemade rosemary salted chips with every burger as standard​. Honest Burgers has 31 locations across the UK​. The majority (27) are in London, Honest Burgers have recently expanded outside London, with openings in Cambridge, Reading, Bristol and Brighton.

HAwksmoor

The Challenge/Task

Having recently refinanced, Honest Burgers was looking to accelerate rollout over a 12 to 18 month period as well as a longer term view of headroom in five years’ time. Existing performance and growth was strong, highlighting the opportunity for new openings. In contrast, the challenging UK F&B climate and unsuccessful rollout experience amongst some direct competitors highlighted potential challenges.

WHAT WE DID

Pragma was asked to support Honest Burgers with its expansion by validating the UK growth opportunity, understanding existing performance drivers and headroom potential, identifying, prioritising and quantifying future locations, and developing a rollout strategy. ​We considered:​

  • Existing performance drivers and current site selection criteria via management interviews, trading data analysis and a review of previous consumer research​

  • Scalability of the Honest Burgers’ concept and impact on its independent identity​

  • Complementary adjacencies and the strength of existing pitch locations​

  • The scale and distribution of competitor estates​

  • Successful and unsuccessful roll out experiences of direct competitors​

  • The impact of different location types on format and performance​

The Result

Pragma advised on the ultimate headroom potential and key success criteria, providing a prioritised list of recommended rollout locations at pitch level. Management have also received a valuable data resource which can be used to support future location decisions.