29th May 2012
You may have noticed small branches of your favourite restaurant or coffee shop popping up all over town, as the trend for these transitional establishments spreads, but what is the attraction?
Well, like most things at the moment they are a product both of the economic climate and the attraction of offering something which may be fleeting. In terms of the operational benefits of opening a
pop-up restaurant as opposed to one which is there to stay there are many.
For a start many pop-ups are making the most of the problems hitting the
high street and therefore managing to secure cheap rent on premises which would otherwise be unoccupied. Landlords are keen to get businesses into these idle shops, but would be less likely to sign them up for a long time as they could be offered a better price if the economy picks up.
Further to this, those opening up
restaurants do not know how well they will do either and a pop-up represents a good opportunity to test the water. If things go well then the management may decide to make the arrangement more long term or open up nearby once they know that the locality is ready for what they have to offer. For customers the appeal of pop-ups is often the fact that they are fleeting and can be there one minute and gone the next. This helps to
drive business as nobody wants to miss out on the experience and are therefore less likely to put it off.
Another clever tactic can be for pop-ups to be tied to specific events which fit with their ethos and allows them to share a customer base with another concept. This is the case with the Salt Yard, which has teamed up with roaming cinema The Nomad for a series of pop-ups this summer.
Pop-ups are a reaction to the current times and as such are intentionally transitionary when other restaurants are being forced to be.
