Two friends turned an idea they had while on holiday into a well-loved restaurant that is now looking to open a third site. Sam Patterson, 32, and Lauren Wright, 32, are the proud owners of healthy food restaurant PICNIC, which has a site on Smithdown Road and in West Derby.
The concept behind PICNIC is delicious and great-looking food that is also healthy and flips the idea of what fast food can be on its head. The menu features a range of options including burritos and bowls alongside classics like loaded fries and burgers with their own signature PICNIC twist.
From Ibiza to Liverpool
In August 2017, Sam, who previously worked in nursing, and former teacher Lauren went on a group holiday to Ibiza and the idea for PICNIC started to form. Sam told the ECHO: "Neither of us had a business or a background in food or hospitality but we both wanted to start our own businesses; Lauren wanted to start a salad bar business and I wanted a healthy meal prep company.
"We were focused on what was missing in Liverpool and we wanted to create somewhere you could eat healthy food at any time of the day without guilt. We didn't even consider we had to be chefs for such a long time, we just knew we wanted to do it."
At the time in Liverpool it felt like you could only have chippies and there's nothing wrong with that because it's nice to have on occasion but there was a massive gap for fast food that is healthy. It was the day we got back we basically just went for it.
From a garage to two sites
During the early stages, the friends led the business from Lauren's parents' garage. Sam said: "We actually had no idea what we were doing at the start and we didn't even know how to run a kitchen. It wasn't until we hired a chef that we realised we were doing everything wrong. [Lauren's parents] eventually kicked us out because we were so busy which is how we ended up moving into a proper building."
Brief stints in the Baltic Market and Grand Central Food Bazaar proved just how popular PICNIC was with the public and in 2019 Sam and Lauren took the business to Smithdown Road where it continues to serve customers on a daily basis.
PICNIC has seen non-stop support from the local community and its second venue opened in West Derby in August 2023. Sam said: "We got a second site because we were just too busy and couldn't keep up with demand. We spent a lot of time asking customers where they think the next location should be and where we were missing from the map so we went to North Liverpool and chose West Derby.
"We've got a loyal Scouse customer base and it's the best thing ever having two sites. We're looking for a third at the minute so we'll see what happens there."
Passion and customisation
Sam said he thinks it is their shared passion for PICNIC that has driven a lot of its success. He said: "It's great working together because we've been friends since we were teenagers and nothing's changed.
"We work on the business every day and we don't stop because we're obsessed with it. We're always trying to develop new menu items and speak to customers a lot and we've just launched acai bowls recently off the back of customer requests."
Despite operating out of their Smithdown Road site for seven years, Sam said there hasn't been too much change over the years. He said: "We've focused a lot over the last few years on customisation. The market shifted to people wanting to take items off or create their own menu items so we've tried to focus on customisation across all of our menu items.
"Apart from that, not much has changed and we've got a similar menu to what we had years ago. We wanted to create a place where people can go and have the same meal again and again. When we add things to the menu they don't really leave so I think we've got 78 items on the menu which is wild.
"We've had the classic wrap on the menu since 2019 and the recipe has never changed so that's a firm favourite for me and I'd say a customer favourite is probably the salt and pepper pasta bowl."
