Mollie’s reveals plans for 100 sites over the next 10 years

Motel and diner concept Mollie’s has enlisted Fleurets to help it achieve ambitious plans to expand to 100 sites over the next 10 years through site search and acquisition, both in roadside and city centre locations.

Mollie’s launched in 2019 with a motel, diner and drive-thru in Buckland, Oxfordshire, followed earlier this year by a second £15m site at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol (pictured). A third, larger hotel in the former Granada TV Studios in Manchester city centre is scheduled to open in 2022, the group's first city centre site, with a Soho House located above Mollie’s on the building’s top floors.

A further 10 locations have already been earmarked as part of the immediate expansion plan.

Designed by the Soho House interiors team, Mollie’s mission is to forge a new ‘budget luxe’ proposition within the travel and leisure market, inspired by 1950s American motels and diners and offering stays from as little as £50 a night.

Mollie’s has two formats and is seeking two- to three-acre freehold sites in strategic edge-of-town or roadside locations with the opportunity for more than 75 bedrooms, a 145-plus cover diner and car parking. The city centre model will focus on locations with high prominence and space for around 100 bedrooms, a over 145 covers and a lounge/bar with speace for over 125 people seated.

Head of hotels at Fleurets, Paul Hardwick, and Kevin Conibear, head of urban markets, said: “We are delighted to be working with Mollie’s to grow this exciting challenger concept in the hotel and leisure market. Mollie’s has reinvented the perception of the roadside hotel and diner, with high quality accommodation and dining, but at affordable prices. The customer response to Bristol has been hugely positive and this is a welcome addition and enhancement to the vibrancy of our city centres and edge of town, roadside locations.”

Mollie’s was conceived by Nick Jones, founder and chief executive of Soho House, and initially launched under the Soho House brand umbrella, but was spun-off as an independent entity last year. It is now backed by a new strategic shareholder cohort including majority shareholder Javad Marandi (who is also an investor in Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire) along with co-shareholders David Elghanayan, co-founder and managing partner at investment firm Nema Capital, and Mollie’s managing director Darren Sweetland, former EMEA finance director of Soho House.

Sweetland told The Caterer earlier this year that the brand also had plans to expand internationally in the long-term.