The company, which started in Chester a decade and a half ago, is re-launching its very first site today (Wednesday 19 February) following a major overhaul which has seen its kitchen refurbished and extended, and a further 60 covers added with an outdoor expansion.
Hickory’s managing director John Welsh said the redevelopment was like giving a baby its first bath: “It’s been 15 years and we’ve added bits to the Chester site, organically, and as its our original site, it’s been a bit bolted on - we didn’t have that much money back in the early days.
“It was finally due a proper refurb, so we closed for six weeks and we’re spending £1m on it, a complete new kitchen and extension to cope with the volume, and we’ve put this amazing glazed space in the garden with a retractable roof which gives us another 60 covers.
“It’s been like giving your baby the first bath one that it should have had a long, long time ago, but it was desperately, desperately needed!”
The upgrades and expansion to the site will see the company also increasing staffing and it has even more ambitious plans for the year ahead with the aim to open 10 new Hickory sites a year for the next couple of years.
Feeling confident
“We’re taking a step up now,” said Welsh. “Last year we did six, and this year we step up to 10. It’s a bit of a challenge, but we feel really confident about it.
“We’ve been honing our plan for the last three years as to how we’re going to get to 10 openings a year, and we’ve been recruiting accordingly - we now have two opening teams that are purely focused on that.”
The new sites will see the company, currently at 25 sites and typically based around the North West and Midlands, expand geographically as well, with new operations opening in York, Swindon and Milton Keynes.
The sites are all coming from within the Greene King estate, since the brewer invested in the brand back in 2022, and Welsh said they were already lining up the next 10 sites for 2026.
He says the key to the business’ success is authenticity, and that’s something they’ve retained with the Greene King relationship.
And that authenticity started with the Chester site: “Chester Hickory’s was not created around the boardroom table - it wasn’t copied from someone else - it was born of a magpie adventure around the US, picking out the best bits and thinking about how that could be incorporated into an offering the Brits would get and enjoy. It wasn’t created by a marketing agency or in a boardroom meeting.”
Sucker punch
The business has had to grow up as well, he admits, and said Greene King had played a role in that. “We did some work with an external consultant to write our strategy, and he looked at the team dynamic.
“He said, ‘you know, you guys are great, passionate, everyone’s really bought into this business and the loyalty, but you’re like an under fives football team. You’re all just following the ball around wherever it goes.’
“He told us if we wanted to build to a national brand then we needed to move up to being at least an under 21s team! We’ve got to all know our position and pass to each other. And it was a brilliant analogy. I’d say we’re not under 21s yet, but we’re definitely maybe under 15s!”
With regard to the current headwinds the sector is facing, he described the Government’s budget as a “sucker punch”.
“Financially it’s a big hit to us, and an additional cost that we didn’t expect.” However he said it wouldn’t knock them off course.
“We’re not McDonald’s, we’re not going to replace everybody with iPads and we firmly believe in the human touch, but can we be smarter? Sure. Our instinct is much more to grow the top line than to start looking at cutting.”
