Leeds bar and restaurant Mad Frans launches new food-to-go business Boom Food Co as it bounces back from crash

A car ploughed into the Wellington Street venue, causing major damage to the floor-to-ceiling window. Mad Frans battled on and remained open last year, but closed in March for six weeks so a new window could be installed and refurbishment carried out.

Now back open for just over a week with a new food venture and a fortunate spell of sunshine, the restaurant has been flooded with customers. As well as a new Mad Frans drinks and food menu, which manager Tom Riley says is the “best yet”, the venue has launched a new food concept - Boom Food Co.

Designed to compete with the lunchtime rush to nearby Sainsbury’s Local, Boom serves takeaway paninis, toasties, sandwiches, salad and pasta pots and signature jacket potatoes from 11.30pm-2pm, as well as breakfast up until 11.30pm.

Tom told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “People can fly in and grab a jacket potato, a panini or a toastie and head back to the office. It’s all fresh produce; the sandwiches, toasties and paninis are made fresh and delivered daily, and all the jacket potatoes and fillings are made in-house. They’re absolutely flying out, we sold about 300 in the first few days.

“Jackets are something that people will always eat, but we couldn’t make them generic - they had to be bang on. We call them gourmet jackets. They’re really beautiful, big, juicy buttery potatoes and we do fillings like butter chicken curry, chilli, vegan Malaysian chickpea curry or signature Boom cheesy beans which are a really indulgent version. There’s a little bit of variation out there for everybody.”

Boom serves a breakfast offering, which can be eaten in or taken away, up until 11.30pm - with sweet pastries and breakfast sandwiches in artisan ciabatta rolls, stuffed with breakfast fillings including cracked black pepper sausage and thick cut smoked bacon.

The Boomin breakfast sandwich is already proving a runaway favourite, filled with crispy bacon, sausage, beans, hash browns and burger cheese, with one customer proclaiming it the “best sandwich he’d ever had”.

“It’s nice to be back open,” Tom added. “The Mad Frans food has come leaps and bounds after the last 12 months - the menu we’ve got currently is the best menu we’ve had in terms of variation, the quality of food and the look of the food.

“We’ve not had it easy, first with Covid and then the car crash. It’s been a long list of negative things stacked up against us, but we’ve gritted our teeth and hung in there. It’s absolutely turned a corner now.

“We want to thank everyone who has come down to give us a go so far and the people who have stuck with us through multiple closures and come back again and again. We really do appreciate it. And for the people who don’t know about us yet, come and check it out!”