Hey Hot Potatoes,

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hot Potato Newsletter! Is it me or does anyone know where this year is going? It's absolutely flying by. I am talking to people about Halloween and Christmas plans already! Time is flying by, and as is the case in hospitality, things are always busy with lots to discuss.

This week we're diving into the latest headlines across UK hospitality. We shine a spotlight on the City of London coffee brand becoming one of the best in Europe. We break down why a bun box on Instagram is a masterclass in packaging as marketing. And I've got a spicy take on why restaurant funding is broken! Let's get into it.

In today’s email: How Rosslyn Cracked Coffee, The Handbag-Shaped Bun Box & The Funding Gap Nobody Talks About

Read Time: Approx 3-4 mins

We take a look at some of the hottest headlines happening right now in UK Hospitality.

Sources: Propel Info, MCA Insight, Restaurant Online

🔥 THE MONEY: Pizza giant Domino's reported a strong first half with like-for-like sales up 4.9% and group revenue up 6.7% to £353.6m, sushi and bento operator Wasabi grew sales past £130m (up 3.2%), and ramen group Tonkotsu lifted turnover 11% on the back of new sites and menu changes, with up to four more sites planned

🔥 SCALING UP: Australian Mexican franchise Zambrero entered an "accelerated growth phase" with like-for-likes up 28% and ten new UK sites due by year end, Wingstop UK closed in on 100 UK sites and Brava Hospitality acquired London all-day dining operator Riding House Café, strengthening its central London position

🔥 THE INDIES: Lennys Apizza who have built up a reputation after their first successful pop up have teamed up with MJMK for their first site in Covent Garden, Sicilian family business Aromi opened its fourth site and first outside Cambridge, in Oxford, and Cocotte founder Romain Bourrillon is launching modern French bistro and wine bar Bistro Cocotte in Soho with more chef-led concepts in the pipeline.

🔥 THE BIG PICTURE: The UK restaurant market is set to be valued at £18.7bn in 2026, with Lumina Intelligence forecasting 1% turnover growth, Nell's Pizza founder launched youth hospitality jobs platform Lenny (in partnership with Candid) to help under-18s into entry-level work and make it easier for operators to hire them, and the #VATsTheProblem petition for a 10% hospitality VAT rate passed 300,000 signatures

Have a story you want featured? Drop a message to [email protected]

You will know this one if you work in the City of London and if you don't, you should. Rosslyn Coffee is the speciality coffee group that planted its flag in the Square Mile. It’s a brand that just oozes quality.

James Hennebry and Mat Russell met while working at Caravan Coffee Roasters in London. Their combination of Irish (warm hospitality) and Australian roots (impeccable attention to detail) have combined to create something unique. They opened their first 40 square metre wedge-shaped site on Queen Victoria Street in 2018, surrounded by chains on all sides and proceeded to build one of the most respected independent coffee brands in Europe from it.

The Numbers That Tell the Story:

Here's what they're doing differently:

☕ A deliberate bet on one postcode - Most coffee brands spread across neighbourhoods to grow. Rosslyn did the opposite with every single one of their 10 sites within the Square Mile. The City of London has one of the richest coffee histories in the world and their goal was to help London become the number one city for coffee in the world again. That focus has made them arguably the best coffee shop in London, if not the UK.

🌍 Quality, scaled - A visit to Rosslyn will regularly feature roasters like SEY from New York, The Coffee Collective from Denmark and Proud Mary from Melbourne behind the bar. These are names that serious coffee drinkers travel for. The fact that they sit inside a high-volume city coffeeshop, serving morning rush queues is what makes the model genuinely unusual. Exceptional product at scale is the hardest thing in hospitality - Rosslyn has cracked it.

🤝 Basics, nailed - It seems simple on the face of things - quick service in peak periods, incredible beans sourced from around the world and staff who deliver great service. However, most coffee shops will struggle to hit all three of those at once. Rosslyn does the simple things well and their execution is faultless.

Their playbook is simple - focus on a quality product, provide amazing hospitality and an efficient service. Sometimes you don’t need to overcomplicate it!

Working in the packaging world in my day-to-day at Brand Your, I have always got a keen eye on what is going on in the space and who is innovating. Someone recently sent me a video of Bun House on Instagram and the thing that stopped me in my tracks was the packaging in the video. The video had amassed millions of organic views.

They have cleverly crafted a box, shaped like a luxury handbag that you can carry with you through the streets of Chinatown and Shoreditch. The box perfectly holds the buns in place, while chopstick handles secure the box. It is an amazing example of the power good packaging can have as a marketing tool and in my opinion a lever that is massively underrated. Credit to Bun House, the vibe of the brand and their style on socials, I really rate! What packaging have you seen that’s pushing the boundaries out there?

Restaurant funding is broken for exactly the people who need it most!

A founder with two successful residencies asked me last week where to actually go for capital to go all in. The honest answer: it's a mess. Incubators like Lean Kitchen Network, Sessions and KERB get a concept live, but that's not real capital. Institutional investors like Imbiba, Piper, TriSpan and McWin are brilliant once you're established, which means don't bother if you're early. Crowdfunding works if you've already got a Sourdough Sophia-level following. Angels, the actual answer at £50-300k, have no directory and no platform… just whoever you happen to know.

That's the real problem - the stage where founders need funding most, post-proof-of-concept, pre-institutional-scale, is the stage with the least infrastructure. If you invest in early-stage hospitality, or know someone who does, reply to this. Let's fix the "word of mouth only" problem for the next founder who asks me.

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

Before I go, I have a question for you guys - What’s one thing you enjoy reading about Hot Potato? I am constantly looking for feedback so I appreciate any thoughts!

Bon appétit,

Max Shipman, Founder, Hot Potato

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