14
Weeks concept to open
From first workshop to serving the first customer.
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Heyman
Food
Arcade
Taking an established food personality off the screen and onto the high street — a full restaurant proposition built, opened and made repeatable.
Sector
QSR / food arcade
Engagement
Venture partnership
Locations
3 open
First opened
2025
Scope
Concept to operations
Status
Ongoing, expanding
Concept → open in 14 weeksDirect ordering, 0% aggregator commissionOwn POS · own app · own dataThree sites tradingOne team, whole chainPlaybook documentedConcept → open in 14 weeksDirect ordering, 0% aggregator commissionOwn POS · own app · own dataThree sites tradingOne team, whole chainPlaybook documented
3,100
Opening-week orders
Through the bespoke app and in-store, first seven days.
3
Locations trading
Second and third sites opened on the same playbook, faster.
0%
Aggregator commission
Direct ordering from day one — margin and data retained.
An audience, but no business behind it.
Heyman arrived with genuine reach and food credibility — and none of the machinery a physical restaurant needs. No concept defined to a P&L, no menu costed for service, no suppliers, no site, no team, no ordering system.
Attention converts once. If the first location was slow, under-staffed or off-brand, the audience wouldn't come back for a second attempt.
Everything except the personality.
Ghost Dinners ran the venture end to end and stayed on after opening — one team accountable for the whole chain rather than five agencies handing work between them.
- Concept & unit economics
- Brand identity & packaging
- Menu development & costing
- Site search & fit-out
- Supplier negotiation
- Recruitment & training
- White-labelled ordering app
- Opening campaign
How we built it
Concept to open, stage by stage.
The same eight-stage model we run on every venture — here's what each stage actually meant for Heyman.
01 Idea Pressure-tested the concept against real demand, footfall and a full P&L before anything was designed. Weeks 1–2
02 Brand Identity, tone, signage, packaging and menu design — built to read at 30mph and on a phone screen. Weeks 2–5
03 Product Menu developed, tested and costed for service speed, gross margin and consistency across sites. Weeks 3–7
04 Technology White-labelled ordering app, loyalty and kitchen workflow built in parallel with the fit-out. Weeks 4–12
05 Location Site secured, fit-out managed, equipment specified and supply chain contracted. Weeks 5–12
06 Launch Team recruited and trained, soft launch run, opening campaign built around the existing audience. Weeks 12–14
07 Operation Margins, waste, quality and order data reviewed weekly — Ghost Dinners stayed on post-opening. Ongoing
08 Expansion Everything documented as a playbook so the second location opened faster and cheaper than the first. Site 2 onward
Ghost Technology
Their own POS, app and kitchen screens — not a rented marketplace.
Aggregators would have taken a cut of every order and kept the customer data. Heyman got a bespoke ordering app instead — direct orders, owned customer relationships, and a base that carries to every future site.
- Direct ordering app
- Loyalty & repeat offers
- Kitchen order flow
- Menu & price control
- Customer data owned
- Multi-site reporting
Platform developed with Geeblo — configured and white-labelled for Heyman.
Inside the build
They handed us a kitchen that already worked. Day one service ran like we'd been open a year.
General Manager, Heyman Food Arcade
Portrait — Heyman general manager
What it proves
The parts of this build that now run as standard on every Ghost Dinners venture.
Audience isn't a business
Reach only converts once. The operating model, menu economics and service speed decide whether it converts twice.
Own the order
Building the ordering platform rather than renting one kept the margin and the customer list with the brand.
Document while you build
The first opening produced the playbook. The second site used it — and every venture since has started from it.
Got the audience? We'll build the business.
Heyman is one route in. Tell us what you have today and we'll assess what it could become.