A Grimsby street food venue is branching out to Dubai.
Mockingbird, part of the Docks Beers set up on King Edward Street, is taking on a commercial kitchen in the United Arab Emirates as the brand spreads its wings. Serving up chicken and an in-house developed vegan alternative, the distinctive shipping container-based addition to the brewery and events venue launched 18 months ago.
Investors with an established presence in Dubai have come on board, opening up the opportunity to take on a catering facility - known as a cloud kitchen - to provide a delivered offering in the Gulf state. It is hoped they will be clucking up the likes of the Burj Khalifa very soon. Should a solid customer base be built, a restaurant could follow.
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Martyn Davies, founder and co-owner of Mockingbird, linked up with Docks Beers directors Will Douglas and Shaz Shadan to launch the initial concept, bringing a decade of experience as an operations director at some of the UK’s best known restaurant brands to the table. He said: “It’s an exciting time for us all at Mockingbird. We’re proud of what our team has achieved in a relatively short space of time in Grimsby, amidst a tough economic climate. We’re lucky to have developed such a fantastic team and customer base and to be seeing growth in sales, month on month. We’re excited about what the future has to offer us!”
The brand has attracted significant attention with YouTube influencer Danny Malin telling more than half a million followers it was a 10/10 as he chowed down on the Mockingbird Ciao Pesto Burger on his Rate My Takeaway channel.
More outlets in new locations could now follow the strategic move, with the approach pre-empting wider UK plans.
Chloe McKeown, social media and marketing manager for Mockingbird, added: “We are so excited to be opening a ‘cloud kitchen’ in Dubai. This is hopefully the first expansion of many! We’re proud to be a part of our local community in Grimsby and we’re excited to replicate our successful model somewhere new. We firmly believe our product has the quality and brand credentials we’re going to need out in the UAE. We will be confirming the soft launch date in the very near future.”
