Hospitality is particularly tough right now – but Eddy Massaad’s Swiss Butter steakhouse in Holborn has a near-constant queue. The ‘secret sauce’ of the restaurant group, which started in Lebanon, has sent it viral, helping it grow to 19 branches around the world. 

And, Massaad says, it started with the sauce. “My brother, a chef, had developed a sauce years ago as a personal challenge. He was ready to sell it to someone else, but I told him to stop and said, ‘I’ll take it from you, and I’ll pay you for it each time I use it.” I knew it had potential.’

At the time, the entrepreneur was working on a client consultancy project involving chains in London including Chipotle, Nando’s, and Leon. He liked their speed and consistency, but thought they lacked an emotional connection – and had the lightbulb moment for Swiss Butter: a scalable restaurant model built around a simple menu and fun atmosphere.

Massaad spent a year fine-tuning every detail: “We wrote the first customer review before we opened,” he says, “imagining exactly what we wanted guests to say, and then worked backwards to make that happen.” The entrepreneur also honed the kitchen ‘flow’ before designing it, ensuring it was scalable from the start. 

When Swiss Butter first launched in Beirut, Lebanon, in July 2017, thanks to Massaad’s savings, consulting income, credit cards and investment from one friend, the hope was to hit 150 diners per day, growing to 200 after three months. But 600 customers flocked on day two. 

Now a chain of 16 Swiss Butters across the Middle East, London and Spain, each is still wholly owned. “We have never franchised,” Massaad adds, “it’s how we keep things consistent.” The restaurant group employs 652 people worldwide; Paris is the next stop – but not too fast. “This is about building something that can keep growing without losing what makes it special.”

Read more about Swiss Butter via their website and read more of our scaleup stories here.

Eddy Massaad founder of Swiss Butter