The Salad Project’s matcha bar will serve a line-up of hot and cold matcha drinks including flavours inspired by some of its signature salads such as maple walnut and hot honey.
Alongside this, the new restaurant will offer a range of customisable salad options, as well as grain and rice bowls.
Billed as The Salad Project’s first neighbourhood location, it will be the group’s fifth opening this year and follows recent launches in Victoria and Southwark.
“This marks an exciting milestone as our first step into residential neighbourhoods,” says Florian de Chezelles, who founded The Salad Project with James Dare in 2021.
“Notting Hill will also be the launchpad for a completely refreshed store design, created specifically with the community in mind.”
Matcha’s popularity has grown exponentially in recent years, driven by younger Gen Z consumers, thanks to its social media-friendly green colour and health benefits including antioxidant properties and more sustained caffeine release.
Sales of matcha drinks in UK cafés more than doubled in June and July this summer compared with last year, according to data from payments company Square reported by the Financial Times.
They made up 4% of all drinks sold in its sample of cafés, equal to 1.6 million matchas and more than £7m in sales.
“As a flavour itself, [matcha] is very polarising, but as a platform to innovate from, with its health benefits, I think it’s very interesting,” Everett Fieldgate, chief executive of dessert restaurant chain Creams, told the Financial Times.
“As long as TikTok loves it, it will continue to grow.”
Set to open on 2 October, Notting Hill will bring The Salad Project’s bricks and mortar estate to 10 sites with a further location at Battersea Power Station expected to launch before the end of the year.
The group has previously said it is aiming to reach 20 sites by 2027.