The internationalisation of the Naturally fast food restaurant Leon, which was founded in 2004 by John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby. The brand offers an alternative to unhealthy fast food, and a complete lifestyle experience in eating fast food that’s good for you but also tastes good as well. Leon is situation mostly within London and major cities around the UK. 

 

Leon is a place for busy people to come and eat good food. Service has always been at the top of their list, making people feel at home while eating within the restaurant. They, as company, always want to hear feedback from their customers whether it’s good or bad. This method as a whole has added to the growth of the business and is one of the fastest growing businesses within the food market in such a short space of time. Being a 12 year old business, they have grown so much.

 

Leon considered it’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and even threats to see if it is safe to internationalise. Comparing competitors of Leon’s both direct and indirect, that offer a similar service within the UK.  

 

Before confirming the choice of China to internationalise to, they considered Mexico as another option, using the Le Pest factors to get a feel of what both markets were like. Leon will be internationalising to China market due to the increasing trend of western food and the demand of healthy grab-and-go food options. China has been confirmed as the fastest growing economy and consumer market in the world. 

 

In the next couple of years Leon will be expanding their food to China’s Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with the method of organic growth. With this method it will allow them to focus on strengths such as customer interaction and direct experience with the consumer, allowing them to gain knowledge of the new market. However this method has it’s risks, such as it often takes longer than a more aggressive strategy, this can be limiting and failure of this could threaten the business. 

 

Situating Leon within the airport, staying true to a comfort zone of being near transport. With the airport growing every year in passengers and cargo traffic, this is a good indication that the footfall within he airport will be high. 

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