James Liang: Hotcha

James Liang, 33
Company: Hotcha
Web: www.hotcha.co.uk

It’s no secret that the takeaway and fast food industry is a highly lucrative and auspicious one, with new British business success stories still appearing despite vast competition – just look at recently acquired Coco di Mama and Young Gun business Deliveroo.

And James Liang looks well on his way to becoming another British triumph with his Chinese takeaway chain; the business currently has 10 locations throughout Bristol and impressive revenues of over £4m – but it’s not stopping there.

The 33 year-old founder wants Hotcha to become the “Domino’s of Chinese”, with a nationwide expansion strategy and a “never been done before” franchise model. Liang has established a single call centre and a central kitchen that prepares all of Hotcha’s sauces and ingredients in bulk and in exactly the right amounts for given recipes, meaning customer orders can be turned around quickly and new chefs are freed up to become qualified in complex wok-handling techniques (that are usually handed down through families) in a short period of time.

The founder recently recruited Domino’s’ former business development director Andrew Emmerson as an advisor and plans to turn his 10 stores into 100 in the next five years with 30 of his own restaurants and 70 franchise branches forecasted by the end of 2017.