When investing, your capital is at risk.
Plateaway was born when brothers Harry and Lewis Slagel identified the need for better access to the UK’s best restaurant brands for people living outside of London (87% of the UK population totalling around 59 million people). Restaurant meal kits, hugely popular during the pandemic, allow anyone, anywhere, to eat restaurant-quality food at home, whilst generating a new revenue stream for restaurants. Post lockdown, 89% of customers are wanting their favourite restaurant brands to continue delivering to their homes. Step forward Plateaway.
The brothers are now partnered with over 70 restaurant brands offering specially curated, hand-picked ingredients, including their exclusive partners Shake Shack, Hard Rock Cafe and Homeslice.
Plateaway has seen exceptional growth since inception in 2020 and has achieved £700,000+ revenue and sold 21,000+ kits to 14,000+ customers. Now raising on Seedrs to expand the operation, we sat down with Harry and Lewis to find out more about them.
What were you doing prior to founding this business and what inspired you to take the entrepreneurship route?
Rewind to before Plateaway, I (Harry) was working in technology and digital with companies such as Sky UK and Engine Group UK. I worked as a UX and service designer on a number of large-scale, groundbreaking technology and public sector digital transformation projects.
I (Lewis) have built various businesses over the last ten years with the most recent being a film studio working alongside Warner Brothers, Universal and Netflix.
Can you tell us a bit about Plateaway’s business model?
Plateaway’s business model is focused on our marketing, technology / data and customer service. Compared with others in the space we are a light asset and manage everything without the cost implications of touching and packing the meal kits. We believe the brands and chefs should have full control of their food. That way we can focus on what we do best on the tech and customer experience journey. This model means we can scale smarter, leaner and faster!
What makes Plateaway a better choice compared to other competitors in the market?
We are the largest in the UK in many aspects and have 2x the amount of partners, 3x the variety of meal kits and the largest selection of categories compared to our second-placed competitors. Our meal kits also offer the largest price range across the industry to create daily purchases and a premium experience.
What has growth looked like to date for the business?
Since launching in 2020, our growth has been exponential! We started with 6 founding restaurant partners and have now partnered with over 70 brands. We started with a team of 3, working from our homes to now having a full-time team of 7, an office space and are looking to hire.
We also used to only deliver within the M25 and within months, expanded our service nationwide. And of course, our tech has come leaps and bounds from where it started. I (Harry) built the website myself at the start of the business and now he has a team of 7 developers, supporting me, based across Leicester and Ukraine.
What has been your proudest achievement/s to date?
There have been so many achievements that have been far and beyond what we ever expected. Our first achievement has to be building our fantastic team. We handpicked people that shared the same vision and work ethic as the two of us and it’s great to see what we have created to date.
The other standout moment is when we partnered with the global and iconic Hard Rock Cafe. From a young age we would visit Hard Rock Cafe with friends and family, and so to have helped Hard Rock develop their meal kits and then listing them on our platform is so rewarding for us. To top it off, we visited their flagship store in Piccadilly Circus, and there it was… a poster showcasing Plateaway as you enter directly opposite the iconic Piccadilly Circus billboards, the world’s largest brands pay millions to advertise on. An iconic moment for the Hard Rock Cafe brand as well as Plateaway!
What are you looking forward to in the near future?
We are launching the UK’s first restaurant subscriptions service which is really exciting.
We are also going to more than double the size of our team over the coming year which will mean a larger office, working with more amazing people and more brain power to help the two of us grow the brand.
We are also in advanced talks with even more national and international brands which we hope to launch in 2022!
A few personal ones:
When you’re not working, what are you doing?
Work, work and more work! Is there anything else going on right now apart from Plateaway? On a serious note when we do get a few hours to relax I (Harry) love to practice yoga, play tennis, socialise with his friends and of course eat (a lot of burgers!).
I (Lewis) never stop! I am obsessed with all things cars and attend track days when I can, love to socialise, going quadbiking and LOVE eating!!
What are your favourite foods or dishes?
Harry = burger lover – ShackBurger by ShakeShack (clickable link so treat yourself!!!)
Lewis = pasta extraordinaire – Mushroom Truffle Pasta by Pasta Evangelists (clickable link so treat yourself!!!)
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far building Plateaway?
Test, test and test some more. As a startup we have learnt the importance of always testing a number of concepts and seeing what works and what doesn’t, then learn from the insights, iterate and test some more. Then when you know what works best then you can spend more and scale. Another one is, don’t be afraid of competition, competition proves your market, just do it better and stay focused on yourself rather than anyone else!
Plateaway is raising £500,010 on Seedrs. Check out the pitch to join the food delivery revolution.
