The Sidemen to launch first Sides site at Boxpark

Youtube stars The Sidemen are set to launch the first ever physical space for virtual fried chicken concept, Sides, at Boxpark Wembley next week.

Opening its doors on 24 February, the fried chicken concept was only available as a delivery service until now. 

Sides was launched in November 2021 and has since built an online following on Instagram of over 200k followers. The concept was developed by the Youtubers in partnership with Reef, the world’s largest operator of virtual restaurants.

The Sidemen are a collective of seven content creators – KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123 and W2S – who together have a global following of 84.5 million dedicated YouTube subscribers and a combined Instagram following of 36.4 million.

The Sides concept is part of Virtual Hero, a subsidiary of Hero Brands, the company behind German Doner Kebab, Choppaluna, Island Poké, and XiX vodka, a further Sidemen brand. 

Working in partnership with the creator collective to develop the brand, Sides is the latest cloud kitchen-based food mega brand to launch in multiple locations simultaneously, via Reef’s community hubs.

The Sides menu allows customers to pick a protein of choice in either a ‘sando’, slider, salad or to be ‘loaded up’ with the choice of seven different flavours – chipotle, classic buffalo, BBQ, Korean BBQ, Teriyaki, Garlic Mayo, Louisiana. Side dishes include waffle fries, mac n cheese bites, side slaw, onion rings and cheese poppers.

Harry Lewis aka WroeToShaw, The Sidemen, said: “Opening our first Sides restaurant at BOXPARK Wembley is a huge moment for us! We are on a mission to bring our food to all our fans across the world and are delighted to be partnering with the team at Virtual Hero as we work to develop the brand.”

Barney Dufton, marketing manager at Boxpark added: “We are excited to welcome Sides to the community at our Wembley venue and know they will cook up a storm amongst fans and fried chicken lovers alike. 

“As we evolve into a national brand with our expansion outside of London, Sides is a fantastic addition to our street food offering and appeals to a UK-wide audience with their impressive fanbase. We often partner with content creators and influencers to create great entertainment that will drive footfall to our venues, and no doubt Sides will generate a lot of noise for us.”

Virtual Hero CEO, Robin Mehta concluded: “At Virtual Hero we are responding to emerging consumer trends in this fast-growing market and building the virtual brands of the future. “We’re excited to work alongside The Sidemen and look forward to giving Boxpark customers a unique and delicious food experience.”

Sides is currently available to order across London, Slough and the UAE with 200 sites set to open globally by the end of 2022.