Hey Hot Potatoes,

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hot Potato Newsletter! My goodness it’s hot, it’s absolutely sweltering so what better time to launch the next edition of Hot Potato! It feels like summer is now in full swing, long days, World Cup underway and the vibes feel good. Now if anyone is looking for a perfect nature style retreat - I’ve just returned from a treehouse get away called Two Pines and must shout them out. Amazing accommodation, nature settings and I got to use an Ooni oven for the first time, what’s not to like!

This week we're diving into the latest headlines across UK hospitality, shining a spotlight on the British steak restaurant that built a cult following around one single cut, exploring why pod hotels might be having their moment in the UK, and I've got a spicy take on why the humble corner shop could be the smartest launchpad for the next generation of food concepts. Let's get into it.

In today’s email: The Steak That Broke the Rules, Why Pod Hotels Are Winning & The Viral Wrap Hiding in a Corner Shop

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

🔥 INDEPENDENT OPERATORS SCALING UP: Greater Manchester's Shakedown secured its biggest site yet. Gloucestershire sustainable-dining concept Roots + Seeds opened a third site in the Cotswolds, and London-founded burger brand Smoke & Pepper heads to Rotherham for its 16th, chasing 30 locations this year

🔥 NEW CONCEPTS HITTING THE HIGH STREET: Mangal II chef Sertaç Dirik and restaurateur David Carter (OMA, Smokestak, Manteca) join forces on fire-led modern Turkish restaurant KID, opening in Soho this September, deli-restaurant Lina Stores launches seasonal aperitivo terrace Lina in Piazza at Broadgate Circle, and the team behind L'Eto opens pintxos-inspired Bar Alta in Soho

🔥 INTERNATIONAL BRANDS EYEING THE UK: Hong Kong grab-and-go sushi brand Sushi Tachi made its UK debut with two London sites and Birmingham and Leeds to follow, French bagel chain Bagelstein says it's "even more ready" for a UK entry it sees scaling to 200 sites, and German Doner Kebab opened its first Northern Ireland site in Belfast

🔥 FOOD HALLS & ENTERTAINMENT VENUES EXPAND: Freight Island opened a 60,000 sq ft Newcastle venue, billed as the UK's largest single-site F&B-and-entertainment space in a city centre, while Incipio Group launched a cluster of new bars and restaurants under Olympia's new rooftop canopy as part of the area's £1.3bn transformation

I love small menus and places that focus on a quality offering. Flat Iron is the British steak restaurant that did something the industry said couldn't be done - serve genuinely great steak at a price that doesn't require a special occasion.

In 2012, founder Charlie Carroll set up above a pub in Shoreditch with one mission - to make great steak available to everyone. He spent nine months teaching himself butchery, learning about lesser-known secondary cuts of beef, and working through a list of 38 suppliers to find the right beef for his mission. That pop-up above a pub has since grown into a culinary institution with weekly sales surpassing £1 million.

The Numbers That Tell The Story:

Here's what they're doing differently:

🥩 The cut is the concept - Instead of opting for familiar expensive cuts like fillet, sirloin and rib-eye, he identified the secondary flat iron cut and built the entire restaurant around it. That allowed Charlie to focus on the best quality product possible, ensuring a great customer experience and it naturally gave them a USP. Imagine going to your mates, ‘I am going to a steak restaurant and they only sell one steak’, it’s going to cause curiosity.

🐮 Obsessive provenance - Charlie wanted his own herd and after three years of sourcing beef from different breeds, he decided that if he wanted the best, he needed to control it himself. The Flat Iron herd is now looked after by a third-generation farmer in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. For a restaurant charging accessible prices, the level of supply chain commitment is impressive.

🎟️ Value for Money - In this day and age, its becoming extraordinarily difficult to find great value and understandably so, everything is so expensive at the moment! But Flat Iron delivers steak and chips for less than £20 PLUS free pop corn and a mini ice cream to go. That’s great value in this climate and I think other operators could learn a thing or two about the small freebies that feel like a real value add.

The playbook is deceptively simple: take one cut, do it brilliantly, keep the price honest and let the product do the talking.

Pod hotels might just be having their moment in the UK. Zedwell opened what they're calling the world's largest capsule hotel at Piccadilly Circus in late 2025 - nearly 1,000 pods from £30 a night and they're aiming for 9,000 rooms by 2028 with sites already signed in Oxford, York and Spitalfields.

Other operators like Otherwander in Soho and LyLo are piling in too, which tells you there's real confidence in the format right now. It makes sense - central London hotel rates averaged £265 a night last year, return-to-office has come back, which has left hybrid workers scrambling for somewhere cheap to crash mid-week and solo travel is booming. They’re levelling up on quality too, think Hypnos mattresses, smart climate control and social spaces. It feels less like a niche novelty and more like a format that's really gaining traction.

Would you stay in one of these or would you find it too claustrophobic?

Corner Shops could be the new go-to place to launch new pop ups.

Last week I went to check out CZER, a spot that has gone viral on social media recently. It’s a pretty simple concept, two types of caesar wraps, stationed in the back of a corner shop, where customers can choose any bag of crisps and chuck them in.

It reminded me of the classic Bodegas in NYC, which are essentially a combination of grocer, deli and corner shop in one. For some reason in the UK, the same format hasn’t really caught on.

They told me that the corner shop has sold more crisps since their busiest ever year 30 years ago - the corner shop wins and it gives young operators a chance to showcase their offering, without huge overheads and leases that a stand alone site costs.

I am sure there are people who will immediately point out the licensing and other challenges around this but why not?!

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 - I am looking to build out a referral scheme and would love to hear your thoughts on what rewards would incentivise you to refer your friends to read Hot Potato?

Hopefully you think there is enough value regardless but let me know!

Bon appétit,

Max Shipman, Founder, Hot Potato

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