Lee’s vision set to serve up jobs
FINANCE strategist-turned- food entrepreneur Lee Fish has revealed plans to create up to 120 jobs in the Tees Valley in the next three years by opening 12 upmarket food outlets with a combined turnover of around £3.6m.
Mr Fish is targeting major shopping centres and business parks in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Darlington and Hartlepool in a move that would see “a couple of dozen outlets” opened in the region.
He plans to open two stores in Gateshead and Newcastle as early as this summer.
Originally from Sunderland, Mr Fish launched his first store, Fish Food, in Scotland in September 2005 as a franchise of quick service sandwich chain O’Briens.
The company is now one of the largest O’Briens franchises with five stores employing over 50 staff in Scotland.
Mr Fish said: “The Tees Valley has massive potential for a quality fast-service food outlet. We have seven O’Briens outlets in Sunderland and Newcastle but none further south.
“We don’t need to persuade people to eat healthily. They are choosing to buy gourmet coffee, nutritious salads and smoothies.”
Mr Fish quit his career as a market and business strategist in the financial services sector “because I was fed up with earning money for someone else.”
He is eyeing up a potential roll-out in the North-east of the O’Briens-owned Cafe Bar Deli chain, which has several outlets in Ireland.
“There is a market for an early-evening, quick-service cafe with leather sofas in a relaxing environment - very different to somewhere like Pizza Express”, he said.
Franchised businesses in the North-east are worth just over half a billion pounds and growing. For a full report, see Tuesday’s nebusiness.
