Good Stuff Eatery, a US chain whose burgers have been eaten by Barack and Michelle Obama, is opening its first UK restaurant as it embarks on global expansion.
The Washington DC-based, family-run company is on the cusp of completing a deal to open in Leicester Square in London as part of a UK roll-out plan for 2016.
It will be the latest US import to capitalise on growing domestic demand for upmarket burgers, joining Shake Shack and Five Guys.
Good Stuff Eatery is part of the Sunnyside Restaurant Group, a private business owned by the Mendelsohn family. Spike Mendelsohn, a US celebrity chef with 50,000 followers on Twitter, runs several restaurants in the Washington area.
Specialising in burgers and milkshakes, Good Stuff Eatery has six US outlets and promotes its fresh cooking and organic products.
While the company would not comment on rumours that it will pay rent of more than £1.5m a year to lease the Leicester Square site currently used by the ice-cream maker Häagen-Dazs, it did confirm that it has launched an international expansion plan.
Ramy Sleiman has been appointed UK chief executive and will move here from Dubai. He has previously had senior roles at US brands including Pizza Hut and Slapfish.
The property agents Charles Benjamin Associates and Dean Gambles & Co have been hired to help Mr Sleiman find four UK locations where the chain can open in 2016.
Micheline Mendelsohn Luhn, the deputy chief executive of Good Stuff Eatery, said: “London is an enticing global platform from which to introduce Good Stuff Eatery to the masses.”
She added that Cardiff, Leeds and Oxford were among other areas being looked at.
The brand recently opened in Saudi Arabia under a franchise arrangement. In the longer term it sees potential in Paris and Barcelona. The company’s typical demographic is 25-35 year olds “who are socially conscious of what they are eating, and want to enjoy freshly prepared food”, Ms Mendelsohn Luhn said.
Tracey Mills, executive director at the restaurant property specialist Davis Coffer Lyons, said: “Britain has seen a huge emergence of healthier or more upmarket fast food chains coming from across the Atlantic in the last three to four years. We are aware of at least 30 high-calibre US-based restaurant concepts which are serious contenders for making a debut here in 2016 and 2017, and many more looking for franchise opportunities.”
