G: Tell us about your business.
My name is Robin Hancock and I am co founder of Wright Brothers and I am the London operations director. I oversee our 3 London restaurants and our wholesale company.
We started WB in 2002 as there was such a cultural divide between the UK and France in respect of shellfish consumption and especially the perception of oysters. As a result the French produce 2000 million and the British 20 million per annum. Mid 19th century we were producing and eating similar amounts of oysters. We set out to re-popularise oysters, educate everyone about all the different types and flavours that are available and change our oyster culture.
G: What is unique about what you do?
We have a sea to plate philosophy: we have the Duchy Of Cornwall Oyster Farm on the Helford river where we are cultivating 10 million oysters and where we have a mussel farm, we wholesale to 150 of the finest seafood establishments in London and we have 3 seafood restaurants in London, at Borough Market, Soho and more recently Spitalfields and a pub by the oyster farm in Cornwall. We offer live oysters in the Spitalfields site which is a first for the UK as well as live crab, lobster and prawns when available. Our restaurants have their own identity not only in respect of dining environment but also in the food that they offer. We are aiming to be the best seafood restaurants in London with a bold and innovate approach to seafood.
G: What would you say has been your most memorable experience while developing your business?
One of the most exciting experiences was opening our Borough Market restaurant with little knowledge or experience of the business and it swiftly becoming successful and acknowledged as a great place to eat seafood and shellfish. It was all hands to the pump and quite mad in the early days!
G: How do you select the menu for the restaurants?
We are very product driven and supply a large percentage of our product through our own wholesale company. We are always endeavouring to be ground breaking with what we do and find new and exciting products for our chefs to work with. We recruit very talented individuals as our chefs and work closely with them to develop the seafood experience that we aspire to at Wright Brothers.
G: What does the future has in store for your business?
Spitalfields is bedding in and has already had great critical acclaim; we are refitting Soho to create a unique seafood experience in the West End. Next is the development and expansion of the wholesale business and the oyster farm. We are looking forward to opening more restaurants and watch out for some ground breaking seafood eating establishments in the near future.
Social links:
Twitter: @WrightBrosLDN
Facebook: Wright Brothers Oysters
Website: thewrightbrothers.co.uk