Five at Phillies is set to open on 5 March inside Phillies on Pollokshaws Road in the Southside, the second location of popular West End restaurant Five March.
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00:00 [LAUGHTER]
00:02 Yeah, sorry about that one.
00:04 We're opening with our friends in the Southside.
00:07 I've been a Southside kid for quite a while now.
00:09 And it's just, the scene's just exploding.
00:13 Quite a lot of the units are quite small,
00:14 which doesn't tend to work so well for us
00:16 just because the food we make is very labour intensive,
00:19 so we have to have a certain amount of turnover
00:21 to make it work, otherwise it doesn't make sense with wages.
00:25 So, our good friend at Phillies,
00:28 we've known for years.
00:30 I trust them, which is massive,
00:32 because in business you've really got to trust each other, you know.
00:36 We're basically going to take a kind of section,
00:38 so they've obviously in their massive building,
00:41 they've got Curious Liquids already in the corner,
00:43 super awesome wine shop,
00:44 who are going to do wine lists for us as well,
00:46 which is amazing, so the wine selection is going to be incredible.
00:50 And then we're going to have this kind of section in the middle
00:52 and then Phillies are still going to be kind of bar on the end.
00:55 So, opening on the 5th of March, obviously for 5 March,
00:58 because that's cheesy,
01:01 we are going to use dishes from here.
01:03 It won't be as extensive as a menu.
01:06 Obviously, people want the whole 5 March experience still,
01:08 they still need to come here because this is the space we can curate
01:11 as well as put the food out for.
01:13 So, we'll have a slightly smaller menu,
01:16 but we'll also have some kind of more bar driven food.
01:19 We'll be doing the kind of bar food for Phillies as well,
01:21 so burgers, fried chicken sandwich, fried spuds,
01:24 things that people seem to go absolutely mad for.
01:26 So, we'll have a more refined menu as well as having the bar menu,
01:29 which will be available in the Phillies section,
01:31 and the refined menu, which will be available in 5 March.
01:33 So, it's going to be a busy month.
01:37 I think Glasgow benefits from quite a few things.
01:40 So, in general, if you look to open a restaurant in London,
01:42 you need millions.
01:44 If you want to open a restaurant in Glasgow,
01:45 as long as you're prepared to take a risk.
01:47 I mean, we opened this for maybe 150 grand
01:50 and this building was in trouble.
01:51 We did a lot of work ourselves.
01:53 I didn't get paid for quite a long time.
01:55 You know, if you're willing to really just go for it,
01:58 you can open for, I mean, I know 150 grand is an awful lot of money,
02:02 but you compare it to most other cities and it really isn't.
02:06 So, you kind of have a situation in Glasgow
02:08 where independents can afford.
02:09 Independents that aren't necessarily financially backed,
02:11 which is a very big difference from just being an independent.
02:14 You don't really have to sell out to anyone.
02:16 You get to do what you want.
02:17 You know, like, I don't need to use certain suppliers
02:21 or I don't need to do what people are telling me from behind the scenes,
02:24 which means you have this creative freedom.
02:26 And because the city is generally a lot cheaper than most other cities,
02:30 it's just a lot easier for more people.
02:33 There's more voices, you know?
02:34 And I think that's the key of keeping any scene diverse.
02:37 You know, not just from restaurants, like any scene at all
02:40 is having a massive mix of different understandings,
02:44 different backgrounds, different viewpoints.
02:45 Like, you know, it keeps everyone on their toes,
02:47 but it keeps things fresh as well.
02:49 So I think because the city generally has been a little cheaper than,
02:52 you know, Edinburgh, than a lot of other places,
02:55 we kind of have maybe a bit more renegade as well.
02:57 Like, everyone is just a bit more up for it, you know?
03:00 So it's great.
03:01 It means the city can really just expand
03:03 without kind of sticking to one demographic
03:06 being wealthy people that can afford to.
03:08 It can just be like anyone can really have a wee go,
03:10 which is quite nice.