There’s an interesting interview with Alan Yau over on Bloomberg this morning. In it he reveals plans to update fast food right here in London:

He won’t say what kind of food he is talking about, other than using the phrase “healthy Asian” at one stage. Even then, he says his aim is to divorce the food from its origins. He points to pizza as a parallel, saying it’s no longer tied to Italy.

“If you look at mass-market players such as Pizza Hut, they are able to put a chicken tikka masala topping on it and are still able to get credibility with the customer because that product is no longer Italian,” he says. “That’s important in fast food. The product needs to move away from its ethnic origins.”

Yau is the man behind the highly successful Wagamama chain, Hakkasan and Yauatcha so we’re optimistic that he’ll score another hit despite using McDonald’s as a touchstone:

“Fast food, for me, has an operation blueprint and that blueprint has been defined by McDonald’s,” he says. “As you walk in, you have the customer counter. Above is the menu display and behind that is the kitchen. This blueprint, even if you change it to something else, works extremely well as a fast-food system.”

Yau also plans to open an Italian bakery on Wardour Street and has a few other restaurant openings up his sleeve this year.

We’ll keep you posted…

Photo credit: Wagamama by russelljsmith (CC licence)