Eggslut
Eggslut is an American chef driven, gourmet food concept founded in 2011 by Alvin Cailan. It’s inspired by a true love for eggs, and the menu is a balance of comfort and innovation, celebrating food that appeals to both novice and extreme foodies through classic comfort fare with a twist, all-encompassing its key ingredient: eggs. The goal is to share their food with everyone, and now the first UK Eggslut has opened on Portobello Road, London. Eggslut is a term used in the American cooking world meaning, in the simplest forms, ‘adding an egg’ to what they’re cooking.
Menu items include things like the bacon egg and cheese sandwich, fairfax, which is soft scrambled egg and chives with caramelised onion in a brioche bun, and the slut; cage free coddled egg on top of a potato puree, topped with salt and chives and served with a baguette.
Steve Curtis, of 360 International Design told PREMIER HOSPITLAITY more about how they brought the brand over to the UK.
How did you get involved?
“We’re the client’s regular UK designer. The project had a brief and we had to look at the origins of Eggslut and obviously it’s all about the passion for eggs so it’s all about the open kitchen, the dining counter- which is the premium experience for customers when they’re dining – and it’s got the full on experience of what the brand is about; the passion of the staff and chefs.”
What was the design for the UK site like?
“The branding in the UK site is similar to the US ones. We’ve continued the material palette that they use in the US so we’ve got exposed concrete walls, steel, columns and countertops, and reclaimed timbers. We had a small basement area in which to create a small dining space but it had no natural light in there, so we had to be quite clever with how we designed the lighting. We wanted it so it could be quite ambient but we also introduced some landscaping and added some greenery to freshen it up. We’ve got a conservatory area and outdoor courtyard too, so it felt right to introduce that area of landscaping.”
Were there any challenges?
“The huge challenge was getting this site to work because it’s long and narrow, so there were a lot of compromises with space planning. It’s got to work for the kitchen staff but also customers too.”
How important was this project for you?
“We work with a lot of well-known brands so it’s important for us to keep doing that and keep that relationship going. We took a franchise such as Eggslut and thought ‘okay how can we develop this for a UK market whilst still retaining the brand principles?’ It is sometimes challenging because often the owners want to keep an identical look, but we have site restrictions and a different market over here. We want to still pay heritage to the franchise but develop it in a subtle way so it’s about finding that balance.”
