Chopstix has promoted Elio Elia to marketing director. The appointment lands at a franchisor that now lists more than 150 sites, sells four formats from high street to motorway kiosk, and whose largest franchise partner is a motorway services operator, which makes brand marketing a job done largely inside somebody else’s building.
Chopstix describes itself as Europe’s leading Asian quick service brand and puts its estate at more than 150 sites on its own franchise page. The group, led by co-founder and chief executive Sam Elia, consolidated its position in the segment by acquiring Chozen Noodle, and sells four franchise formats: high street, food court, kiosk and travel hub, a spread wider than most of the fast food franchises recruiting in the UK offer. The promotion of Elio Elia to marketing director was reported in the trade this week.
A brand that trades inside other operators’ sites
Three of the four formats Chopstix sells sit inside somebody else’s footfall: a food court, a kiosk and a travel hub all come with a host operator who controls the door, the car park and the opening hours. That shapes what a marketing director can and cannot do. Signage, menu boards and the position of a counter are negotiated with a landlord or a services operator rather than set by the brand, and the customer arrives for the site first and picks the fascia second. It is the same structural position Greggs and Chaiiwala occupy on roadside sites.
Welcome Break as the largest franchise partner
In February 2024 Welcome Break became the brand’s largest franchise partner after opening three sites in consecutive months, at Newport Pagnell North on the M1, Membury West on the M4 and Corley South on the M6, all in England. Aaron Moore-Saxton, franchise director at Chopstix, said at the time that the group was delighted to open another site with what had become its biggest franchise partner, and that the units were already delivering impressive returns. Adrian Grimes, commercial director at Welcome Break, said the brand performed consistently well across the portfolio and provided a point of difference to the existing food and drink offer.
Good to know
Chopstix is a genuine franchise and its franchise page invites enquiries from both experienced operators and newcomers, asking only for previous franchisee or business experience and a preferred UK development region. What it does not publish is any figure: no initial franchise fee, no ongoing management service fee and no total investment range, the distinction between the initial fee and the total investment being where our guide to what it costs to open a franchise in the UK starts. There is no UK disclosure document that would require it, so those numbers come only from the franchisor on request, and what they cover is fixed by the franchise agreement.
What comes next
The target the group set in 2024 was 300 sites across Europe by 2027, against an estate it now puts at more than 150, so the pace of partner signings over the next fifteen months is the number to watch. The second is the split between company-operated sites and franchised ones, which the brand does not publish. For a business whose growth depends on roadside and travel operators choosing its fascia over a rival’s, a marketing director’s remit sits closer to partner recruitment than the job title suggests.
