John Lewis is to open its flagship Platter restaurant at its Oxford Street store this week as part of an £800m multi-year investment.
The new in-store hospitality concept will replace the retailer’s The Place to Eat restaurants across 32 stores by the end of 2027, with Bluewater, Chichester and Reading already opened.
John Lewis described Platter Oxford Street as the “fullest expression” of the new restaurant concept, with an open kitchen serving hand-stretched pizza, a made-on-site deli, a dessert parlour, a bar overlooking the shop’s atrium and fifty outdoor covers on the fifth-floor terrace.
In total, the restaurant seats 300, making it “one of the biggest restaurants on Oxford Street”, according to the retailer.
Platter Oxford Street will feature a new in-store roastery, where a master roaster will oversee the roasting of a single-origin arabica bean coffee, sourced exclusively for John Lewis.The coffee will also be available to purchase and take home, both as beans and ground coffee bags.
This location also houses The Residency, a rotating pop-up launching with London patisserie The Eclectic Collection, known for its viral fruit-shaped desserts which are available nowhere else outside the brand’s own two shops.
Platter Oxford Street will sit alongside the retailer’s wider hospitality offer, which includes Benugo, Ori Caffè, Huffkins tea rooms, Jamie Oliver Cafe, the 1864 Rooftop and Kamakura at Oxford Street.
Other Platter restaurants will be designed around the scale and character of each shop, varying by location.
John Lewis said the new concept comes as hospitality accounts for more than 20% of its in-store transactions, with sales having grown by nearly 10% in the past year. The retailer opened its first café in 1965 and now has 62 cafés and restaurants across the country.
“This is a real investment in something customers told us mattered. Sitting down for something to eat and drink has become part of how people shop and Platter is built for that,” said John Lewis director of services and hospitality Katie Papakonstantinou.
“Platter serves our own coffee – with beans roasted right here in Oxford Street – alongside an open kitchen making pizza, deli and patisserie on site. Whether stopping for coffee, a pizza with family, a treat from the dessert parlour or a drink at the bar, we’ve created a space that makes a shopping trip even more special.”
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