Since 2007 the Bristol-born brand Jolly Hog has grown from street food stalls at festivals to supplying porky products to almost every major supermarket in the UK. As the company has gone from strength to strength, it has stayed loyal to its Bristolian origins, putting down roots at Wapping Wharf with its HQ and restaurant outlet, the Pig Sty, a space which allows them to test new retail products on a very willing public.
While the company regularly shares stories about its stratospheric success, from publishing a cookbook to launching five new products last year, it has not been immune to the difficulties the food and hospitality industries are currently facing with changing consumer habits and the rises in the cost of living and production. Last month Jolly Hog's co-founder Max Kohn, who runs the business with his brother Olly and Josh, shared the news the company was shuttering its kiosk at Bath Spa train station for good.
The concession, serving coffee and bacon sandwiches to hungry commuters, first opened on March 12, 2020, and was a pilot project for potentially expanding to more locations. Unfortunately, after its initial launch, On the Trot traded for just 12 days before the first Covid Lockdown.
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In a post on LinkedIn last month, Max wrote, "I can laugh about it now, but it was probably the worst time to open anything in the history of opening anything. It was a nightmare."
The process of getting On the Trot up and running involved converting an unused old boot room at the station into a welcoming kiosk. Max wrote that the company battled through a year of red tape, planning permission battles and delays before eventually getting the go-ahead, only for the business to spend its first 18 months opening and closing with each lockdown.
The pandemic was doubly difficult for On the Trot as it was ideally intended to feed hoards of hungry commuters disembarking from GWR trains. As hybrid working has become the norm for many, footfall at the station has decreased and remains so, especially with widespread strike action on the railways.
Max said, "Covid changed the dial for all train stations as travellers dropped off the face of the earth overnight. Since then, the working week for many people has completely changed, with commuting to work reducing dramatically. The demand for someone to buy an incredible black treacle bacon bap with a flat white had, therefore, also reduced dramatically."
At the end of last year, the brand decided to wind up the operation completely, with Max explaining, "The decision to shut was completely the right one. We’ve made loads of f*ck ups over the years, and I guess what I learned from this one was that sometimes things are outside of your control, and you have to suck it up and take a bite of the shit sandwich and move on. So we have!"
The unit at Bath Spa will be occupied by Can't Dance Coffee, a Bristol-based independent with locations in Victoria Square, Clifton and Sovereign Centre, Weston-super-Mare.
The full LinkedIn post about the closure reads as follows: "Lots of positive news shared on LinkedIn, including from us at The Jolly Hog, so I thought for balance, I would share a more challenging bit of news.
"Last month, we had to shut our Kiosk at Bath Spa train station for the final time. Lots of reasons for having to close it down, but primarily the landscape of trading at a train station pre & post-Covid has changed dramatically.
"4 years ago, we started talking to GWR about putting in a Jolly Hog Kiosk into one of their stations. It was good timing as they were looking to improve the food and drink offerings across stations. We settled on Bath as it needed a new offering, and it was a busy and local station to us in Bristol. Originally it was going to be in an old archway, but when we looked around the ticket hall, we discovered an old boot room that wasn’t getting used. It was literally full of old boots and coats for the railway workers. We suggested that we cut a hole in the wall and turn it into the first ‘Jolly Hog On The Trot’. After 12 months of red tape, planning permission battles and delays, we finally got the go-ahead to fit out our first train station kiosk. We were so chuffed!
"I was managing the project from our side. Which included anything from organising contractors to crawling through the rat-infested loft of the station trying to find the broadband cables. It was an extremely hands-on period for me personally, alongside trying to run the rest of our business. But I really believed in the project, so I thought it would all be worth it in the end.
"We finally got it open on the 12th of March 2020. We went into Covid lockdown on 24th March 2020. We traded for 12 days before we had to close for 3 months. I can laugh about it now, but it was probably the worst time to open anything in the history of opening anything. It was a nightmare.
"The idea was that Bath would be a pilot kiosk for lots more future kiosks. We spent the best part of 18 months shutting and re-opening between lockdowns and restrictions. Covid changed the dial for all train stations as travellers dropped off the face of the earth overnight. Since then, the working week for many people completely changed, with commuting to work reducing dramatically. The demand for someone to buy an incredible black treacle bacon bap with a flat white had, therefore, also reduced dramatically.
"It was a double blow. We had a very difficult and loss-making opening for two years, and we also had a business model that fundamentally didn’t stack up in the new world of train travel. Probably the most frustrating part was that we never got to see its potential in the ‘old world’, and I strongly believed it would be really successful.
"All that to one side, the decision to shut was completely the right one. We’ve made loads of f*** ups over the years, and I guess what I learned from this one was that sometimes things are outside of your control, and you have to suck it up and... and move on. So we have!"
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