On the day that Mercato Metropolitano opened its long-awaited fourth London store in Ilford, managing director Luke Jenkins sat down with Retail Week to discuss the long road to opening, the future of the market hall format and taking Mercato outside of London.
Luke Jenkins is the managing director of Mercato Metropolitano. He joined the market hall specialist in September 2022 as head of commercial and was promoted to his current role at the start of 2024.
Mercato Metropolitano has been a fixture of the UK hospitality and leisure sector since it opened its first site in Elephant & Castle in 2016.
Originally conceived as an Italian grocery concept, the brand has since morphed into more of a community hub for the locations they are in – championing local entrepreneurs and restaurateurs and offering spaces for people to meet, eat and work.
The new site in Ilford opened last Thursday, following a three-year period of delays. This is Mercato Metropolitano’s fourth store, alongside Elephant & Castle, Mayfair and Canary Wharf.
Tell me a little about the journey to opening Ilford and why you chose this location for a new Mercato Metropolitano?
“It’s been a journey, for sure. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into getting to this point. But in that time the goal for Ilford never changed. We’ve tried to build a community space that allows people to come together, and we’ve achieved that.
“There’s been so many things that have happened over the last few years that have kept people from coming together. So, we think it’s important to give the community a market where they can come together, in an area that’s dying for regeneration. An area dying for a central hub where people can come together from different communities and different nationalities to band together around food and drink.
“We want this new space to become an anchor for the regeneration of Ilford. It’s a place, like so many others, that has lost so many retail names. It’s a shame that Ilford lost Marks & Spencer on the high street, and so many other businesses. Having a Mercato will hopefully begin the process of regenerating Ilford and bringing it back up.”
Ilford is now the fourth Mercato Metropolitano in London. Are there plans to expand the brand beyond London into other parts of the country or the world?
“We want to go to areas that need regeneration. We want to go to areas that need communities to come together. So, does that mean we’re going to open more in London? Yeah, if we can find the area.
“Does it mean we also want to go outside of London? Yes. As long as we can find the right space. We’re not just going to grow a business to put a market in somewhere, because that’s a really bad business model to have.
“So, we want to find those spaces in areas that want to work with Mercato. And if we can find that in England, or in Europe, or even anywhere outside of Europe, then we’re up for it. Definitely. Growth is always at the forefront of what Mercato Metropolitano is all about.”
During the pandemic, a number of market hall concepts closed. What makes Mercato Metropolitano more resilient?
“Well firstly, we’re not a market hall. We’re a community market where people can come and be together. You don’t have to come here and eat and drink. If you live in Ilford, for example, you can just come and use the space.
“I’ve got a community team, whose job is to reach out to all of the community subsidies around us, offering them use of our space. So that’s one thing which separates us.
“Also, we’ve got a real understanding of what good food can do. Food is life. It’s about being able to offer people the best possible food and the most affordable prices. That’s what we do, and we can only do that because of our traders.
“The checks and balances our traders have to navigate to become a trader at one of our markets, in terms of the quality they need to offer and sustainability, is way above any other market in the UK or Europe. So, when people come to a Mercato Metropolitano, they know they’ll be getting the best food possible from that local area.”
What makes Ilford different to Mercato’s other sites?
“The biggest thing that makes Ilford stand out to Elephant & Castle or Mayfair is the number of local traders we’re looking to incubate here. We really want Ilford to be a place where new entrepreneurs can get a start and turn themselves into reputable brands.
“We’re looking at local traders within the local area. We’re cultivating them and giving them all the skills of being a business by offering them the use of our commercial team, our HR, our employment and finance mechanisms to be able to become stronger as a business.”
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