Thu 26th May 2016 - Euphorium Bakery founder aims for 30 sites with ‘modern carvery’ concept Euphorium Bakery founder aims for 30 sites with ‘modern carvery’ concept: Euphorium Bakery founder Daniel Bear and hospitality finance director Atif Amin (Chilango, Hakkasan, Ping Pong), will launch a fast casual and cashless modern carvery concept in Tooley Street, London, this summer. The licensed carvery will serve high-protein meals in the form of “carvepots”, from breakfast through to dinner. Fish, meat and vegetarian options are hand carved, pulled and prepped by experts on customer-facing carving podiums, and served with spices, rice, relishes and roots. Diners can tap, grab and go in seconds courtesy of a high-tech one-step, one-price ordering and cashless payment system. Patrons complete their transactions in advance then help themselves to a drink, a “carvepot” from the self-service system, a roll and a sauce before leaving or taking a seat at a counter or table. All-day "carvepots" are priced at £6.95. All-day combinations include smoked pork leg with apple slaw, creme fraiche, piquillo peppers and pineapple ketchup; roasted tofu with sesame seed crust, tamari, ginger and turmeric root; or salmon gravadlax with leeks, fennel, radish, chopped egg, dill and mustard. The breakfast pots continue in the same vein with the likes of Cumberland sausage meatloaf with ground Landroc pork, nutmeg and sage, and a whole loin of dry-cured bacon with a Seville orange marmalade glaze, served with sides such as bubble and squeak and rumbled free range eggs. Bear said: “For years the concept of carvery has had a bad rep but we aim to put it back on diners’ foodie lists. Carve is food for the way we like to eat now – high protein, fresh, fast guilt-free food. We’re focused on food not service, we put our money into ingredients and hand carve everything in full view, there’s no backstage. Cash-free payment and one-price ensures an efficient customer journey and we are confident that this will be embraced by increasingly health-conscious time-poor Londoners.” Customers are greeted inside by a series of tall metal carve "totems" – touch pay stations made of black hot rolled steel to allow the messaging from the tablets to jump out. A large communal table, seating 15, is made from off-cuts of timber whilst the floor is marked with “knocked back” arrows defining the direction of movement and reinforcing the quick, easy, efficient customer journey. Carve aims to have 30 branches in London over the next three to five years. Bear started working life as a barrister’s clerk in London. On a visit to France that he noticed the quality of French baking and began to believe that he could achieve the same in London, something that was then missing from the capital. Against the advice of his peers, he approached one of the barristers and quickly gained investment for the idea. Suitable premises were found and Euphorium Bakery was born in Upper Street Islington in 1999. In 2011 Tesco invested in the Euphorium brand as an in-store bakery and café and Bear opened 76 outlets across the Tesco estate. At the same time, he was asked to develop a brand new concept to replace the Tesco own in-house bakery. This concept was conceived as The Bakery Project (TBP) to offer a counterpoint to Euphorium’s artisan bread. So far TBP has been rolled out in 63 outlets across London and the south east. Bear sold his remaining shares, and both are now wholly owned by Tesco.