Pancake chain Stack & Still expanding beyond native Scotland with £250k flagship premises in London’s Leicester Square

Glasgow-headquartered Stack & Still, which says it is the UK’s largest chain of pancake houses, is expanding beyond Scotland with a forthcoming site in London’s Leicester Square – amid plans to double the size of the business.

The firm, which serves more than a million pancakes a year, is taking over premises on Irving Street previously occupied by American brand Mod Pizza, adding that it edged out rival bids from global brands. The Scottish business will invest £250,000 in opening the flagship, 5,000-square-foot branch capable of seating 225 people across over three floors and an outdoor terrace.

Stack & Still, which was founded by Graham Swankie and Paul Reynolds, will undertake a soft opening of the branch in December, followed by rolling out the red carpet for a “movie-premiere-style” official opening in January, emulating its many cinema neighbours. The firm will also be introducing order-at-table technology in multiple languages.

Ryan Hawes, the group’s executive head chef in Scotland, will move to London from Scotland to open the branch as head chef, with Mark Ferrari succeeding him north of the Border. Mr Hawes previously worked as a chef de partie and a sous chef at the Dorchester Hotel near London’s Hyde Park, and held two AA rosettes while head chef at Livingstone's Restaurant in Linlithgow.

He is joined by general manager Barry McPhee who is rejoining Stack & Still from pizza restaurant brand Franco Manca and will be supported by Lyle Maclean Beaton as assistant manager who joined the pancake restaurant chain – which says its customers can choose from 12 million combinations – as a bartender when the brand launched in 2018.

Stack & Still, which has 200 staff at its seven locations in Scotland including Braehead in Glasgow and the Bonnie & Wild food court in Edinburgh’s St James Quarter, aims to double in size during the next two years, including more locations in London.

Mr Reynolds, chief executive at Stack & Still, said: “It’s long been my ambition to expand Stack & Still beyond Scotland and the move into [Leicester Square] is testament to the strength of the brand. Opening our flagship pancake house in such a location will allow us to expand beyond our traditionally busy breakfast time by serving dishes throughout the day to families and international tourists.”