Clarke established Chicken Shop more than a decade ago, coming out of building Chick’n Sours. The business currently operates eight London sites in Baker Street, Camden, Islington, Notting Hill, Putney, soho, Canary Wharf and Hammersmith.
“I’m proud of what we built at Chicken Shop, especially on the food side — that’s the part that stayed consistent,” says Clarke. “It felt like the right time to move on, and I’m leaving with real respect for what the brand stands for and the people who shaped it with me.”
In May last year Clarke closed hi Chick ‘N Sours two London restaurants but the brand has lived on at events and pop-ups.
He is now focused on Disco Brands, a platform that identifies existing independent food brands and scales them globally through franchise and territory partnerships, with a focus on high-growth markets including India and the Gulf, and younger consumer audiences.
“The global QSR category hasn’t evolved with culture,” Clarke adds.
“Most of the big players are still running playbooks from twenty years ago. There’s a generation of independent brands with genuine heat that deserve to be on a world stage, and the infrastructure to get them there has been missing. That’s what Disco is.”
Clarke says Disco Brands is already in active conversations across multiple territories, with further announcements expected in the coming months.