New Eat concept store

Sandwich chain Eat is continuing its expansion programme with the launch of a new concept store in London’s Finsbury Pavement yesterday (11 May).

Unlike other stores, all the cooking and serving at the new Eat concept store is visible, “so customers can smell the baguettes being baked”.

The next phase of the brand’s store expansion will be in Ealing, London and Chichester, West Sussex. These are currently being built and are scheduled to be opened in the next six to eight weeks. This will take the company’s total store estate to 120. 

Chichester will see the extension of the new concept into a market town format, or, as the company put it: “gearing the menu, service and environment around a relaxing place to meet and spend time for great seasonal food and hand-crafted coffee”.

Later in the year, Eat also plans to open its largest-ever store in London’s Liverpool Street Station. At 2,840 square feet it will adopt the new format to serve the 122m passengers passing through the UK’s busiest station each year.

Sarah Doyle, brand director at Eat, said: “Eat will be expanding beyond London over the next 12 months, and the new store format is a key feature of the roll-out.”

In March, Eat was issued with a £3.6m VAT bill after its toasties were found to be subject to the ‘pasty tax’.