Interview PHO’S HISTORY


June 2005 The first Pho opens on St John Street in London’s Clerkenwell. April 2007 Ed and Tom Martin take a 50% stake in the business. Spring 2008 Second site opens in Great Titchfield Street in central London. October 2008 Shepherd’s Bush restaurant opens. May 2010 The chain’s largest site to date opens in Brighton. September 2010 The fifth site in the chain opens in a listed building in Soho. September 2011 Pho opens near the Olympic site in London’s Stratford. July 2012 The seventh site opens opposite Spitalfields Market in London. July 2012 The business secures venture capital funding from ISIS for its next stage of expansion.


noodles by his wife, who was more than seven months pregnant at the time.


Asian inspiration There is a renowned area of London close to several of Wall’s restaurants where a number of Vietnamese restau- rants have been established for years: Dalston’s Kingsland Road. But Wall is clear that his restaurants offer something different, and with a relentless focus on the menu and ingredient quality he says his chefs are able to provide food that is beyond the standard available there. “About 40% of our total menu is pho, so we can invest


more money in ingredients. The food we deliver is probably even more authentic than you can get on the Kingsland Road,” he says, pointing out one of his most experienced chefs in the kitchen, who has come to oversee the new restaurant and is Vietnamese. “Traditional Vietnamese restaurants often serve Chinese food too, and you can’t ensure the quality of what you’re serving when there are more than 200 items on a menu,” he adds. In fact, rather than assessing himself against the Kingsland Road, he benchmarks the menu against the best of what’s being served on the streets of Hanoi: “The food we serve is absolutely authentic. The only compromise we’ve made is that the quality of the meat we serve is better than you get in Vietnam. We use chicken breasts, for instance, whereas they will slice up whole chickens and it’s pot luck what ends up in your bowl. “Everything in the restaurant apart from the three bottles


of sauces you see on the tables is made in the restaurant,” he continues. “I imported some rice wine about six months ago. We are the first restaurant in Europe to bring this in.” The menu is evolving slowly, for instance, with a refreshed salad range that Wall jokes “even men will eat”, but he says further change in the near term will likely be no more than introducing another handful of starters over the next year or so. His wife and he still go back to Vietnam every 18 months


to two years, both to get inspiration from eating on the streets for how they can improve their menu, as well as for the decor in their restaurants. This means each site has a unique look and feel, based


on the latest things they have seen, making the most of the unique buildings and sites they have chosen. The individu- ality of each site is something they are keen to continue as the business grows. The new investment funding they have secured will


not reduce their input into every aspect of the business. “Though the business will still be run by Jules and myself – we will be able to take things to the next stage,” explains Wall.


Brand building With a strong desire to retain the customer experience in their future restaurants the couple are being extremely careful with their expansion plans. “We can really focus on the customer experience as we grow. We don’t want to


8 autumn 2012


become a slave to the P&L [profit and loss], as we are reputation building. We are still very young at seven sites, and if anything I want to invest more money into improving the product, not less,” he says. Wall continues: “The P&L is very important, but it is


really about the customer. Are our restaurants full and what do the customers think? If we get that right, and with good management of KPIs, then that leads to a good bottom line.” This strategy has appeared to pay off so far. In 2010 the business turned over more than £6m, with a gross profit margin of 76%. So, future growth must not jeopardise the success achieved so far.


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