A FRIED chicken restaurant is expanding by opening more sites across the country over the next two years.

The Bok Shop, a free-range fried chicken and vegan fried chicken restaurant which began life in Brighton, is planning to open 10 more sites.

The restaurant has seen revenues surge in 2020 despite the pandemic thanks to the success they achieved from takeaways.

It has existing sites in Brighton's East Street, at The Beacon shopping centre in Eastbourne and also Croydon. The team plan to roll out more venues, including a 100-cover site in Southampton’s West Quay in Summer 2021.

These sites will range from 30-100 cover restaurants to counter style takeaway and delivery sites.

Having just secured £1.2 million in funding from a private equity group, they are meeting their "ambitions".

Co-founder Jamie O’Mara said: "We never in our wildest dreams thought that we would be sharing what we created at our little shop in Brighton with the rest of the U.K.

"It’s been a hard slog filled with failures and success’, amplified by the pandemic, but all in the name of growth both as individuals and as a company.

"We feel there is a gap in the market for a quality chicken inspired offer like ours, what Honest Burger has done to burgers, or Pizza Pilgrims has done with Pizza.

"We want to do that for chicken. We’ve lived and breathed The Bok Shop and the hospitality industry since opening the doors on East Street in 2017 and we can’t wait to share the journey”.

Born out of Brighton in 2017, four friends from Brighton and London joined forces to create The Bok Shop, championing free-range fried chicken burgers, wings and tenders with an equal focus on vegan creations and home-made sauces.

Founders Jamie O’Mara, Howard Kaye, Saul Burman and Matthew Dimmack teamed up with published chef Adam O’Shepherd to create an "authentic chicken shop menu" with a Bok Shop twist.

They spent over a year on menu-development ahead of opening.

With Jamie and Howard both growing up in South and North London respectively, the concept is inspired by London’s fried chicken culture.