Béres owner reveals secret to Sheffield success as firm announces 14th pork sandwich shop
Sheffield institution Béres is opening a 14th shop and has plans for further expansion as it continues to thrive during the pandemic.
The firm, famed within the city for its pork sandwiches, announced today that its newest branch will be in Broomhill, where it plans to open this September at the unit on Fulwood Road which Card Factory is soon vacating.
It is only a couple of weeks since 399 Ecclesall Road became the latest addition to the fast-growing chain, yet owner Richard Béres has no plans to stop here.
He told how there is already another site in the pipeline, at least a couple more potential new stores he is looking at and if the right opportunity arises he would look to expand outside the city.
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“I can’t say too much at the moment but we have another shop in the pipeline, which could be a few months away, and there are a couple more we have planned,” he said.
“There’s no point expanding outside the city when we’re not done with Sheffield yet but if we see the right site in the future we would look at doing so.
“We’ve come to the point where we’re going to need a bigger factory if we’re going to do that.”
Béres closed its shops for three weeks at the beginning of the Covid pandemic but they have been open since then and Richard believes the crisis has encouraged more people to support their local businesses.
“Lots of people are still working from home so you have more people shopping locally and lots of them are keen to support the independents rather than just going to the big chains,” he said.
“When everyone shut down during the pandemic, the only shops which remained open were the local bakers and I think people remember that and want the money they spend to stay in Sheffield.”
Richard also described how high street shops closing due to the pandemic had created the opportunity to open in places where units had previously been hard to find, like Ecclesall Road and Broomhill.
The family firm was started in 1961 by Richard’s parents Eileen and Sandor Béres, after Sandor fled his home city of Budapest during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising.
The latest store will take its total employees to around 125 and Richard believes his parents would be pleased but not surprised by its success.
“Everyone seems to like our sandwiches and every time we open a new shop people come,” he said.
“I think my father would say you’ve done alright, now let’s look at the next one.
“He was always doing deals. Even when he had a heart attack in his 60s, he was in hospital and got talking to the bloke in the next bed about a deal and said I think my son might be interested in that.
“When you buy something from us, you know you’re getting bread which has been baked overnight and meat which has been prepared by us the traditional way, and that’s not changed in 50 years.”
As well the soon-to-open store in Broomhill, Béres already has four branches in Hillsborough and others on Ecclesall Road and in Firth Park, Crystal Peaks, Woodseats, Sheffield city centre, Crookes, Wadsley Bridge, Norwood and Chapeltown.