FRANCE/INTERNATIONAL. Lagardère Travel Retail is to introduce street food brand Bill the Butcher into the fast-casual segment of its Foodservice portfolio.
Bill the Butcher specialises in meatballs, with a restaurant design and atmosphere inspired by the film worlds of directors Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Whether eaten at the restaurant or as carry out in a ‘Bill Box’, Bill the Butcher meatballs are served in under three minutes and are 100% home-made. The company sources all of its meat from farms in France whose food supply chain is strictly controlled from start to finish.
Bill the Butcher offers a range of meatball recipes in homage to the different ethnic backgrounds of New York City immigrants. There are also options for vegetarians and vegans, with recipes that use fish, quinoa, lentil, sweet potato, and other ingredients. New meatball options are also offered each week.
The street food brand is the brainchild of retail design agency Open D Group co-founder Laurent Caucé and childhood friend Franck Maisonnave, who dreamt up the concept while living together in New York City’s Meatpacking District. Vincent Girardin, a cattle farmer from the Bourgogne region of France, came on board during the project’s development phase.
“This partnership fits perfectly into our development strategy for our brand portfolio, because we want to emphasise emerging brands that will enable us to offer our customers a diverse set of options,” said Lagardère Travel Retail Executive Vice President, Foodservice Mélanie Guilldou.
“Beyond its originality, the concept is also ideal for travellers: the meals can be eaten on the go and are served fast. We also liked the fact that we can know exactly where the ingredients come from and that they are guaranteed to be of intrinsically high quality. That is a major element of our partner-selection criteria.”
Bill the Butcher has already opened two locations in Paris. Caucé commented: “We have high hopes for this partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail, both to position our brand as a major player in street food and to help us expand internationally.”
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The company also organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards. This year’s FAB will be held in Helsinki on 20 and 21 June. Click here for details.
