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Popular New York vegan chain eatery By Chloe is set to open its first location outside of the US in January 2018, and will be located in London’s Covent Garden.
Photo: By Chloe
The London café, due to open in January 2018, will be the first By Chloe restaurant outside of the States, and is due to be followed by subsequent sites in the capital if it’s successful. There are now seven stores in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, with two more locations set to open before the end of the year at the South Street Seaport and at Rockefeller Center.
The co-founder and president of By Chloe, Samantha Wasser, acknowledges that the company has already undergone ambitious expansion in the two years since it first opened. She sees London as strategic for the brand.
“International expansion was always part of our long-term plan for By Chloe,” she says.
“I’d read that London is one of the greatest food scenes in the world; once I visited, I saw what the hype was about. We’ve built a huge following on social media and have fans in multiple countries consistently asking when we’re coming.”
The chain have recently invested up to $13 million dollars in international development and it’s speculated that they have plans to open more restaurants in London, Europe and the Middle East.
Photo: By Chloe
What’s on the menu?
While the menu at each By Chloe branch tends to vary slightly, the crew will be hoping to tempt vegan and non-vegan Londoners alike with fresh juices, healthy fries and salads as well as its range of burgers.
There will be a wide range of delicious dishes on offer, such as tempeh, bbq portobello mushroom and pesto varieties to prove that meat isn’t an essential part of a patty.
The cafe will also be offering a range of pastries, cookies and cakes that are healthier than normal, plus a selection of ice creams in flavours such as kale cookie, matcha, and the slightly less virtuous sounding salted peanut butter.
Photo: By Chloe
Approachable
According to Creative Director Samantha Wasser the eatery aims to be mainstream and approachable to non-vegans.
Wasser told Metro UK:
“Two years ago when we started, people weren’t as open-minded as they are now and vegan was looked at as intimidating and scary and ‘if I’m not vegan, I’m not going to like anything so why bother going?’ This was more about making vegan food affordable, approachable and accessible – that’s why we serve comfort food. Burgers. Fries. Salads. Mac ‘n’ cheese – foods people aren’t afraid of.”
Famous faces
According to Wasser, the eatery has welcomed some high profile guests.
She said: “Miley Cyrus is our biggest fan – she’s being going since the beginning. She recently did SNL (Saturday Night Live) and she sent in her bodyguards four times when she was filming.
“Meghan Markle was a huge fan of ours at the beginning when she had her blog – she did a whole photoshoot in our space.
“Stella McCartney’s been really lovely too and Anna Kendrick’s been in a few times.”
