EAT gets a piece of the action

SANDWICH chain EAT is set to create 100 jobs across Scotland following the successful launch of its first high street shops north of the Border.

The company, founded by Perthshire-born Niall MacArthur and his wife Faith, is in negotiations for a prime location in Edinburgh that would be the home of its first city centre outlet in the capital.

MacArthur hopes to have the site trading by September before rolling out more than half a dozen further stores across the country.

The expansion follows the opening of two high street EAT shops in Glasgow in late December, the chain’s first city centre sites in Scotland.

“They have started very well, particularly given that it is January,” MacArthur said. “We are serving 500 people per day in each shop, and we would expect to double that over time as we establish the brand and become better known.”

EAT has operated airport outlets in Edinburgh since 2007, and opened at Glasgow Airport in 2009. Its push into the Scottish high street is part of broader expansion plans to double its current chain of 120 stores – many of which are in London.

The roll-out represents an investment of some £2 million in Scotland, on top of the roughly £2.3m which EAT has already put into its five sites north of the Border. MacArthur sees room for up to three more shops in Glasgow and three in total in Edinburgh, and is also considering locations in Aberdeen.

MacArthur opened his first EAT shop in London in 1996.