Hangry Moose, a Midlands street food business with burger restaurants in Bromsgrove and Worcester, is planning to expand under new owners Darren Smith and Alex Moran. Bdaily reported on 3 November that they have taken the business forward after the departure of founder Dave Barnicoat.
Smith is chief executive of Bromsgrove-based Elonex Media, and Moran is founder and chief executive of the home healthcare business Roost. Bdaily reported that both were also part of a consortium that took a controlling stake in Bromsgrove Sporting FC earlier this year. Propel carried the story on 5 November. The new owners plan to expand into new locations, develop the menu and set up partnerships with pubs and retailers across the Midlands.
What the new owners said
Smith said the priority is building on the foundations Barnicoat and the team laid, through investing in innovation and product development, putting in place processes to improve efficiency, and creating new partnerships and distribution channels.
Moran said the pair are already in discussions with a range of pubs and other retail outlets about partnering to bring the brand to more customers around the Midlands, and that they want to widen the menu and product range. Neither gave a site count, a funding figure or opening dates.
From a burger trailer to a permanent site
Barnicoat started the business because there was no decent burger nearby, according to a 2021 profile by the National Caterers Association. It served events and street food, specialised in breakfast sandwiches and handmade patties, and also traded from a permanent roadside site on Sugarbrook Road in Bromsgrove.
In May 2022 the business moved into Unit 5 at the Aston Fields Trading Estate in Bromsgrove, on a five-year tenancy of about 2,000 square feet, with opening hours of Tuesday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm, according to the estate’s managing agent and The Business Desk. Barnicoat said at the time that the mission statement had changed in early 2022.
What the company records show
Companies House lists a company called Hangry Moose Limited, incorporated on 9 June 2022 with the activity code for event catering. It was dissolved on 3 September 2024, and its last accounts were made up to 30 June 2023. The sources read do not say which company runs the restaurants today, or whether the 2022 company was replaced by another. The brand’s present footprint is described as restaurants in Bromsgrove and Worcester; no franchising has been announced.
Why it matters for multi-site operators
A single-site street food business moving into pubs and retail is a pattern seen across UK food brands, and Dave’s Hot Chicken’s plan for 20 UK and Irish sites by January shows how quickly a young brand can set a site target. Hangry Moose has set none in the sources read; for a first-principles view, see our guide on how to open a restaurant.
