HEALTHY fast food chain Leon will open its first Scottish store in Glasgow in July, creating 25 new jobs in the city.

The Sauchiehall Street site is the chain’s first high street store outside of London and is the first of three planned for the city, according to founder and chief executive John Vincent.

Mr Vincent, a former strategy director with Whyte & Mackay, said Glasgow was a natural fit for the brand’s healthy, quick meals.

“We decided to go to Glasgow because of consumer demand,” he said. “If the emails and tweets we received, and the comments from focus groups are representative, then we will do well there. It’s a major opening for us as all other stores are in London or in transport hubs. We haven’t done anything outside of London.”

Mr Vincent, husband of news reader Katie Derham, said the move beyond London and UK transport hubs was natural, but didn’t come without reservations.

“I know Glasgow well and have spent a lot of time there, partly due to my time at Whyte & Mackay and because of my friendship with [former Scotland rugby player] Kenny Logan. I love Glasgow but it is a gamble for us,” he said.

Moving operations into Scotland requires a shift in the supply chain and Mr Vincent said that as a result of this it made sense to have multiple outlets. “By coming into Glasgow you have to start thinking about the logistics, the role a regional manager would have there. From that supply chain point of view it makes sense to have more than one outlet in Scotland. Having an additional presence forms customer awareness too.”

As the company eyes further expansion, Scotland is firmly in its plans. “When we started planning expansion and looked at the population density in parts of the UK we thought we could end up with three stores in Glasgow,” said Mr Vincent, who is married to TV newsreader Katie Derham. “We’ll also look at Edinburgh at one point, and Aberdeen is a possibility.”

In its accounts for the year ending December 2015, Leon increased like for like sales by an additional 7.8 per cent on top of last year’s 23 per cent. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 46 per dent to £2.26 million from £1.55m.

Mr Vincent was part of team at Whyte & Mackay that successfully turned the company around under the ownership of Vivian Imerman, who sold the business to Vijay Mallya’s United Distillers in 2007 for £595 million, making a £400 million return on his initial investment.

“Leon launched in 2004 so at the same time I was working for Whyte & Mackay I was planning this beautiful start up.”

Leon now runs 35 eateries, and in January introduced the national living wage to its 600 staff, regardless of age.

Summing up the company’s offering with the pithy “if God did fast food”, Mr Vincent said, “what we offer has to be healthy, but it also has to be addictive, and make customers want to come back for more. It’s not like it’s a bowl of mung beans.”

Typical dishes at the outlets include Sicilian chicken meatballs and Brazilian black bean stew. A wide range of salads, hot meals and sandwiches are available in addition to organic coffee and juices.

Leon opened 12 new sites in 2015 and is planning a further 11 this year, including Glasgow. It will also open its first international branch, in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

Mr Vincent was in Glasgow yesterday as part of the Entrepreneurs Exchange programme, which saw 20 events in cities across the UK, featuring over 40 of the nation’s leading business founders give free, real business advice to the next generation of the UK’s entrepreneurs.

“We’re trying to help that next generation,” said Mr Vincent. There’s a lot of very successful people, including Jo Malone, Charles Dunston, Nick Jones. It’s great to part of a group of like-minded people.”

In Glasgow Mr Vincent spoke alongside Mark Simmers, the founder of Celtic Renewables. In Edinburgh the event was hosted by Jack Wills founder Peter Williams and Julie Wilson and Amy Livingstone from Cheeky Chompers.