London & South East Premier Hospitality Scotland

GBK

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court
Written by Roma Publications

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court

Founded in 2001, Gourmet Burger Kitchen – or GBK for short – is a restaurant chain that is all about the burger.

From the classic beef burger through to the appropriately named The Mighty, GBK has been serving up belly busting burgers to satisfied customers for over a decade. With over 60 restaurants across the UK, GBK pride themselves on using the freshest ingredients daily.

In 2011, keen to keep the brand at the forefront of the market, GBK implemented a scheme to refresh its existing sites through a programme of refurbishments. Three design practices were appointed to rework GBK sites across the UK, with design led architectural practice moreno:masey being one such company.

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court

Formed in 2007, moreno:masey is an architectural practice with a strong client focus. The practice consistently delivers innovative schemes, from residential works to restaurant projects. Working closely with GBK, moreno:masey completed its first fit-out at GBK Northcote Road, before delivering sites such as GBK Oxford Road, GBK Greenwich, GBK Brighton followed by GBK Glasgow.

The initial feasibility sketches started on GBK Glasgow in September 2013, with works commencing on site a year later. The scheme reached a successful completion in December 2014 and was recently recognised with a nomination at the Casual Dining Awards 2015, within the Best Designed Multiple Restaurant category.

The design of GBK Glasgow takes inspiration from a disused casino, with highlights which include plush finishes, decorative lighting, rich upholstery, mesh screens and rough core ten steel – the latter being a nod to the city’s ship building heritage. Reclaimed Scottish whisky barrel timber is in use across the wall surfaces of the restaurant, whilst a focus on the preparation of food permeates through the building.

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court

Rodrigo Moreno Masey, Director of moreno:masey, said:

“Internally one of the biggest design challenges was managing the vastness of the interior. Exceptionally high floor-to-ceiling levels and a single space often make it difficult to achieve the same levels of privacy and intimacy that is regularly achieved within smaller premises. A strategy to break up the spaces, by introducing seating configurations, mesh boxes and screens, all sought to lower the ceiling level and introduce localised low level lighting to individual tables. This avoided the feel of one vast open space.

“Material choices also sought to distinguish these different areas of seating offering comfortable booths for larger parties, seats for a quick bite to eat, and flexible loose seating to cater for couples to much larger parties.”

Working on GBK Glasgow, UHS supplied the restaurant with a range of chairs, including Elena, Lorenzo and Milo chairs, as well as herringbone table tops with copper bands. UHS is a furniture supplier, specialising in indoor & outdoor furniture solutions for hotels, pubs and restaurants to the hospitality industry.

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court

Natasha Yelland of UHS, said:

“Our working relationship with GBK is very important to us because here at UHS we take great pride in serving our customers. We have a highly-skilled and well-disciplined sales team who dedicate their time and knowledge towards the principles of team work, loyalty, honesty and integrity for our customers.”

More recently, GBK refurbished an existing restaurant at Earls Court, London. Situated on a prominent corner of Earls Court Road, the existing restaurant was a popular venue, but required an update to allow for an increase in the number of covers – fully maximising the site’s potential.

Rodrigo Moreno Masey, Director of moreno:masey, commented:

“The existing restaurant struggled with poor lines of sight and a dark narrow corridor to one side of the kitchen with no visual connection to the cookline or the remainder of the restaurant. Cutting new openings through the kitchen walls to create an open corner re-established connections for both and brought light into the corridor space.”

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court

When asked what it means to have been involved with the project, Rodrigo replied:

“We have a close working relationship with GBK, this is reflected and rewarded through repeat business and a series of successful schemes developed and built over the last four years.”

He added:

“The teams behind the development and construction of the projects work closely with each other to achieve the client’s goals on a tight schedule. This understanding allows an element of freedom on design while working to achieve brand goals and common elements of styling. Through this approach, each scheme is allowed to be distinct, pushing the brand forward.”

Burgers at GBK Earls Court & GBK Glasgow – as with all GBK restaurants – are cooked to order and served up fresh every day, with a range of options available, from beef and chicken to speciality and vegetarian burgers. All of GBK’s beef burgers are made from 100% prime beef, using traditionally reared and grass fed cattle and is hand selected to ensure only the freshest, best quality burgers are on offer.

GBK Glasgow & Earls Court

Burger options include the 4oz or 6oz Classic, The Taxidriver, the Habanero and the Bacon Pesterella. Meanwhile, The Don includes American cheese, gorgonzola, baconnaise, rocket salad, onion jam, house mayo and pickled onion, all serve up in a brioche bun.

GBK restaurants are dotted around the UK, from London, Leeds and Liverpool to Birmingham, Bristol and Bath. Each restaurant showcases the mouth-watering GBK menu whilst situated within key locations. Customers can now order their favourite burgers, ready for collection them their nearest GBK restaurant by simply downloading the GBK app and ordering from the menu.

For more information on GBK please visit www.gbk.co.uk.

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Roma Publications