Hey Hot Potatoes,

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hot Potato Newsletter! September has been packed with new openings, events and plenty of things worth paying attention to.

This week we’re looking at how Sandwich Sandwich built one of the most recognisable products in UK hospitality, why 4pm is becoming an increasingly important day part for cafés, and why I think a great experience can matter more than a great product.
Let’s get into it.

In today's email: Sandwich Sandwich’s Growth Playbook, Why 4pm Is the New 9am & Why Experience Beats Product

Read Time: Approx 3-4 mins

Five hospitality stories worth knowing from the last fortnight.

Sources: Propel Info, MCA Insight, Restaurant Online

Free Bean has opened what it calls the world’s first free coffee shop in New York. Customers pay nothing: the canned cold brew is funded by brands advertising directly on the packaging.

Why it’s interesting → What if hospitality products become advertising inventory? Instead of the customer funding the coffee, brands pay for access to the customer. It’s a completely different way of thinking about the economics of a café.

A Menufy survey of 1,000 US adults found 60% use AI tools to help decide where to eat, while 35% had discovered a restaurant through an AI recommendation and subsequently visited or ordered.

The bigger picture → Restaurants mastered Google, Instagram and TikTok. Now they may need to ask: what does ChatGPT say when someone asks where to eat tonight?

The UK now drinks an estimated 103 million cups of coffee a day, while consumption among 18–34s has risen nearly 50% since 2021 and has overtaken over-55s for the first time.

My take → The interesting shift isn’t whether younger people drink coffee, but what they drink and when - premium drinks, iced formats and increasingly afternoon occasions.

The government has announced a £210m package for English high streets, including funding to bring derelict buildings back into use and support at-risk pubs and local businesses.

The bigger picture → Bringing empty units back to life could create new opportunities for hospitality operators while giving people more reasons to visit the high street.

When one door closes, another opens - In Q2, 1,839 hospitality venues closed while 1,794 opened, leaving the market broadly flat.

The bigger picture → Hospitality is under pressure, but operators are still willing to invest. The market isn’t simply shrinking - some venues are closing while new concepts continue to take their place.

Sandwich Sandwich has created one of the most recognisable products in UK hospitality.

It started as Cotham Sandwich Co in Bristol in 2010 before becoming Sandwich Sandwich in 2012. For more than a decade it remained predominantly a Bristol business. Then social media took off, London followed and the queues haven’t stopped since.

Numbers That Tell The Story:
👉 7 UK sites - 5 in London and 2 in Bristol
👉 250,000+ followers across social media
👉 3,500 sq ft - Mark Lane is the biggest sandwich shop in the UK
👉 Target of 25 sites by 2029

Here's why it works:
🥪 Creating visual appeal - Huge fillings, cut down the middle and presented as a cross-section. They’ve engineered a product perfect for social media; you often don’t need to see the logo to know it’s Sandwich Sandwich.

📱 Building the audience before expansion - When they arrived in London in 2024, they already had a huge online following from Bristol. They'd effectively built London demand before opening a London restaurant.

🚶 Branching out the format - Made-to-order creates theatre but can slow operations. They’re now testing grab-and-go-only sites in Broadgate and Paddington.

💰 Making value obvious - The sandwiches are huge, packed with fillings and deliberately generous. As lunch prices rise, Sandwich Sandwich makes the value visible before you take a bite. I honestly eat half and save the other half… easily enough for two people!

The playbook → Create something visually distinctive, make the value obvious, build demand before building the estate, then adapt the operating model as you scale.

Every time I walk past the Blank Street near my office, it seems busier in the afternoon than the morning.

Turns out it’s not just me. Co-founder Issam Freiha recently said most of Blank Street’s sales now happen in the afternoon, with after 4pm its fastest-growing day part.

Traditionally, cafés would be winding down at this point. Blank Street is now rethinking its menu, store design and operations around the shift.

Matcha, iced drinks and afternoon meet-ups are creating new occasions beyond the traditional morning coffee run.

When you're paying the same rent all day, it’s worth asking: how do you make more of the hours you already have?

A great experience beats a great product.

I recently asked someone who has launched more than 70 restaurants what makes a great concept.

His answer wasn't just the food.

It’s how the team greets you, the atmosphere, the branding, the service and then, of course, the product.

You can serve brilliant food, but staff who don’t care about the brand or the guest can undo everything else you've built.

I’ll nearly always remember how a place made me feel longer than I remember exactly what I ate.

That wraps this edition of Hot Potato! Hit reply with any thoughts - I read everything and it genuinely shapes what comes next.

Quick question - which Hot Potato section would you miss most if I removed it: Hot Off The Press, Brand Spotlight, Trend Watch or Spicy Take?

I am always looking to improve the format and make it the go to place to read about what’s coming next in hospitality.

Until next time!

Bon appétit,

Max Shipman, Founder, Hot Potato

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