Bird Restaurants announces expansion plans

Fried chicken and waffle concept Bird has announced it will launch several new sites in 2021, as part of new managing director Andrew Glover’s vision.

Bird currently has restaurants across London including recently opened Brixton, plus Westfield, Canary Wharf, Camden and Islington; with kitchen locations across the UK including Manchester, Nottingham and Brighton.

The company says the first quarter of 2021 should see the concept land in Cambridge, Leeds, Battersea, Waterloo and Shoreditch, with multiple locations expected later in the year through organic growth.  

“Bird has all the right ingredients for significant growth and so I feel privileged to take the helm at such a crucial time,” says Glover. “My immediate focus has been to get under the skin of the entire brand experience and to revisit operational procedures to set our teams up to win – creating a plug-and-play ready brand if you like.

"Running parallel to our organic growth strategy is our vision to massively expand our locations through franchise and commercial partnerships in the UK and overseas, which could see over 100 sites over the next five years. This is a challenging part of the strategy where I bring a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record for delivering sustainable portfolio growth.”

Bird was acquired from the original founders by the now-parent company Crown Partnership in August 2019, an investment now approaching £2m.