Boxpark reports revenue of £18.9m

Boxpark has published its latest accounts, including an increase in group revenue of 178% in the year to April 2022.

For the period 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022, Boxpark’s revenue surged to £18.9m from £6.8m. While the prior period was impacted by Covid-19 closures, the group said revenue rose by 24% in comparison with the year to April 2020, pre-pandemic.

The growth follows LDC’s investment in Boxpark in September 2021, which it said had enabled “significant investment across all operational aspects of the business”.

Boxpark introduced mobile ordering of both food and drinks directly to tables after reopening from Covid-19 restrictions, which has since been developed to allow customers to order food and drinks from multiple traders in one transaction.

Boxpark has three new sites in the pipeline, with Boxhall Bristol due to open this summer and Boxhall City marking the launch of a new concept. Boxpark Liverpool, opening later this year, will be the first Boxpark outside of London.

The group also said it had repaid its loan from Croydon Council, which was used to finance the construction of Boxpark Croydon.

In May 2022, Simon Champion was appointed chief executive of Boxpark as founder Roger Wade stepped into a non-executive role. Champion joined the business at the start of 2018 as chief financial officer before moving to the role of managing director in September 2021. Before joining Boxpark, Champion was chief financial officer at Propercorn, where he oversaw the group’s first major equity raise. Prior to that, he was chief executive of EasyHotel.

He said: “We are obviously delighted with our 2022 results and the changes we were able to make to our business in that period to enable us to grow further. And while we are optimistic about our future trading, we know the hospitality industry is facing tough times, so we need to continue to adapt to changing trends in the eating-out market and keep innovating and enhancing our offering to suit our customer. This set of results shows we can do that, so we are hugely excited for the next few years.”

Boxpark Shoreditch launched in 2010, fusing modern street food markets and pop-up retail. Boxpark Croydon opened in October 2016 with 30 street traders in more than 90 shipping containers. Boxpark Wembley (pictured), the largest venue to date, opened in December 2018.