The Beyond The Counter Podcast
Do not have it yet? Parasocial is a podcast player by Super Simple.
Welcome to Beyond the Counter - the UK's first podcast and content series dedicated to Food Halls & Markets. Sign up for free to our monthly articles and annual Food Hall data report: https://forms.contacta.io/68e54cbaf8643266cccaf0aa.html In this episode, we sit down with Ben MacMillan, co-founder of Edinburgh Street Food - one of the UK's standout food hall openings, with 700,000 customers through the door in its first year and a 90% repeat customer rate in a city that doubles in size during festival season. Ben takes us through the founding story: the Oslo Street Food model that sparked the idea, the £1.8m build in a Unesco World Heritage site, and the hard work of convincing a sceptical first vendor line-up to sign. He shares what's driven the venue's loyal local following and why staying 100% local, from vendors to draught lines, was one of their best calls. And he sets out what comes next: a 15,000 sq ft converted warehouse in Manchester, the funding realities of a tough UK investment environment, and what operators planning a second site should expect. In this episode, we cover: • The Oslo connection: how a Scandinavian street food hall sparked the idea for Edinburgh Str