Chris O’Connor and James Brundle Reinvent The Convenience Store In East London : Eat 17

Eat 17, two family-run convenience stores, is changing the way people are thinking about where they’re getting that extra milk or forgotten butter. With each site boasting not just fashionable but highly-praised restaurants plus a gastro-burger bar in their Hackney store, a household-name relish brand Bacon Jam, and with a cookbook and boutique cinema planned in the next twelve months, it’s been something of a meteoric rise for Eat 17. Notching up an eclectic mix of plaudits from celebrity chef  John Torode and culinary darling Rachel Khoo to rapper Professor Green, it’s hard to believe it was only nine years ago the brand made its humble beginnings in founder’s Chris O’Connor and James Brundle’s native E17 postcode (hence the playful plug and name, Eat 17).

“High-end,” “fashionable” and “SPAR” might not seem like the obvious choice of words to use in the same sentence, but moments from Lower Clapton Road’s one time, so called “murder mile,” a foodie revolution is taking place among the well-groomed moustaches of East London’s trendsetting elite.

Step-brothers, O’Connor and Brundle grew up in the Walthamstow area and worked at the same printing company in marketing and buying, respectively. They bought their first business premises — which would become the first Eat 17 store — less than a decade ago: a run-down convenience store in Walthamstow previously trading as Paul’s Wines. This acquisition initially presented simply as an opportunity to start their own business. They were both into good food and were interested in stocking independent brands and products. “There wasn’t much of a plan,” says Brundle. “We just decided that this business was our own thing and our own business and as time evolved it took more of a focus.”

As the business grew and the brothers started introducing new lines that were more “foodie” oriented, a year later they bought the restaurant next door to the shop, which would become their first Eat 17 restaurant. Not long after this, they partnered up with high street convenience store brand, SPAR to further extend the business. The long-established brand might not be one naturally associated with the cutting edge of fashion and innovation, but Brundle credits  the partnership with a great deal, praising SPAR’s entrepreneurial spirit which, he says, enabled them to grow their foodie concept but also offer basic lines at reasonable prices. It’s a consideration other growing businesses in this up and coming area have ignored at their peril.

“We wanted to create something that hadn’t been done before” says Brundle, “We offer everyday lines at competitive prices through our partnership with SPAR but we are also really passionate about great food so we stock as many local producers and small producers as possible. We want our store to look amazing but be a place for people with all budgets.”

Before long the brothers were winning  awards for their innovative concept, including The Grocer’s 2012 Best Store in the UK, escalating quite rapidly to Best Store In The World in 2013. In the same year, the London Foodie Guide named it Favourite Local Restaurant of the Year, thanks to The Ivy’s executive chef, Gary Lee.

About a year and a half ago, the brothers took over a run-down snooker hall on Brooksby’s Walk, just off the much-gentrified Chatsworth Road – a fashionable area for Hackney’s creative crowd, a stunning art deco building originally built as a cinema, for their second convenience store. Like the Walthamstow store, they stock fashionable independent and local brands, with Borough Wines, Crate Brewery and Roasting Shed Coffee on offer as well as the basics. Additionally, the store includes a concession by florist by Rebel Rebel, a British brand founded by Athena Duncan and Mairead Curtin 15 years ago. The brand, which describes their styles as “loose and eclectic” and using British flowers wherever possible, moved to Eat 17 from their Broadway Market shop, last year.

There’s nothing specific they’re looking for, says Brundle, “We try things. If we like it and we think it’s a reasonable price point, we’ll stock it.” It was a risk, he says, given the state of disrepair the building was in, but one that paid off. O’Connor and Brundle opened a burger bar downstairs where their in-house Bacon Jam brand — something between a relish and a dip and now stocked by over 5000 outlets — was born. Later, they debuted a second restaurant upstairs. Variously described as somewhere between a good-gastro pub and fine-dining.

In terms of design, the brothers work with Natasha Hawtrey-Woore. They’re not trying to achieve anything consistent, which would give a corporate edge that the brothers are keen to avoid. “It really depends on the shape and space we have” says Brundle. “We don’t want to restrict ourselves to making our places look the same,” Brundle says that their designer Hawtrey-Woore is particularly good at using the space and features of a building to the business’s advantage, evident for example in the design of the Hackney restaurant, showcasing the old-school glamour of the building’s cinematic origins.

Cinema is a theme the pair look to return to in the near future. The restaurant will shortly close for a six month period to make way for a boutique cinema, complete with a street food-style selection of snacks — no cheese from a bottle here, then. “The site was built as a cinema so it seemed like a cool thing to do,” says Brundle. “The area is really excited about it and we are going to be creating something really special for the local community and further afield.”

Always on the lookout for new digs, location is everything in this business, says James and they want to know an area well before they set up store there. In terms of what they themselves look for in an eatery, you might be surprised. There’s nothing that they’ve tried to emulate with Eat 17, who he insists are quite unique in the marketplace, but Brundle rates American import Five Guys as a good burger joint and admires Whole Foods brand for healthy food shopping. Though there are plenty of other smaller-scale pop ups and local haunts around, which he says is good to see.

“Our philosophy in the restaurant is simple: We want to serve really good honest food done to the best possible standard.”

Text: Jen Offord
Photos: Courtesy of Eat 17