Historic hotel partners with local pop-up

One of Portsmouth’s oldest hotels, Keppels Head Hotel, has partnered with local food start-up Shroom Kitchen to host its monthly Sunday roast pop-up, Shroom on Sunday.

Launching at the hotel Sunday 10 May, the collaboration gives the independent pop-up a new home while offering the historic venue a fresh way to attract new audiences and showcase Portsmouth’s growing food scene.

Founder of Shroom Kitchen Lucy Bridgewater met Mandy Magee, Marketing Manager at Keppels Head Hotel, at Eat the Island, a Council hospitality industry networking event.  With a remit to do business differently, Mandy invited Lucy to meet hotel owner, Tring Lim, and a partnership was born.

Lucy commented:

“Meeting Mandy, and subsequently Tring has saved my start-up. My business model is built on collaboration. Without it, I can’t operate. It’s not easy to find the right partner, I feel like Goldie Locks trying to find the ‘just right’ venue. When I thought I had exhausted my options, along came Mandy.

I hadn’t considered a hotel because they already offer their own Sunday Roast but Keppels Head is happy to hand one Sunday a month over to me because they want to do things differently to other hotels. It’s a bold but sensible move if your goal is to attract new audiences.

Mandy said:

“Meeting Lucy and collaborating with her has been an absolute pleasure. We recognise that the hospitality sector is evolving, and we wanted to be part of that journey by taking a genuine leap of faith. Opening our restaurant to a monthly pop up is a big step for us, but it’s one we’re incredibly excited about. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming Lucy and her team into our restaurant. It’s the start of a fantastic collaboration.”

Shroom on Sunday launches its residency at Keppels Head Hotel on 10th May 12:00 – 16:00 with monthly dates scheduled until the end of the year.