The six-strong brand will open a permanent kitchen inside the Covent Garden sports bar in January 2027 as part of its plans to grow to at least 11 sites by mid-2027.
Founded in 2020 in the North East, Pablo’s currently operates locations across the region and Edinburgh and offers a menu of breakfast bao buns and loaded hash browns as well as at-home delivery kits.
“We’re extremely excited to open our first location south of the North East in Covent Garden – an iconic part of the UK - and take our first steps in building Pablo’s into a national brand,” say Pablo’s founders Emma Dent and Edward Evans.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved so far. We believe our proposition is incredibly unique, and we’ve seen from our stores in the North East and Edinburgh that there is huge local demand for innovative and high-quality baos.
“Now, we want to replicate our success through franchising and plan to expand our network of stores with new, strategic locations and like-minded franchise partners, who are as passionate about scaling Pablo’s as we are.”
Pablo’s is working with franchise consultancy Presman & Colard to support its UK growth. In addition to London, Pablo’s and Presman & Colard are now in discussions with further prospective franchisees across the UK and are targeting at least five new openings by mid-2027.
“Pablo’s is one-of-a-kind. It already has many of the fundamentals that franchising brands are trying to create, including a highly differentiated product, strong brand, and fantastic unit and site economics,” says Charlie Mander, co-founder and chief operating officer at Presman & Colard.
“We see huge potential for Pablo’s to replicate the success of other brands venturing out of the North East, and we’re delighted to partner with them to make that vision become a reality.”
Pablo’s will be located inside BLOODsports and will be open from 7am to 2pm.