Walking down a street in Marylebone, London on Sunday afternoon, I had a bit of a shock. It was a street that I was very familiar with – I’d wandered down it hundreds of times – but it was the first time in about 9 months that I’d visited it and it was completely unrecognisable. Whereas last year it had been littered with a couple of chains – Cafe Rouge and a Nandos, probably – yesterday I noted with amazement how the street had, in the space of less than a year, suddenly transformed into an eclectic array of foodie start-ups, each one boasting its own independent niche. But while each eatery is unique, the street itself is not a one-off.

Across the capital, there are now estimated to be 50,000 catering firms and restaurants and five new restaurants opening every 14 days! While this explosion may not be particularly great for the waistline, it’s extremely exciting time for the UK, a country that has never been regarded too favourably in the culinary stakes. (Let’s face it, five years ago if you were choosing between a lunch at a rustic osteria in deepest Tuscany or the rather sad looking fish and chips/sausage and mash option dished up at a local pub, I know which I one would have gone for.) It’s great news too for international food entrepreneurs, who get to trial their products and grow their business in a thriving new environment as well as share their home recipes with new and eager mouths!

From pop-up restaurants, to street-food stands and themed eateries, entrepreneurs are leading the way when it comes to culinary hangouts.  Their twists on what constitutes a restaurant has earned them attention both from Londoners and the millions that visit the City. Rarely a week goes by without an award being offered to an innovative new kitchen: The British Street Food Awards took place recently; Richard Branson has also jumped on the foodie wagon and launched his own healthy food awards; and even the big enterprise comps have their own food start-up prize slotted into their awards ceremony – The Great British Entrepreneur Awards is just one of many of this type.

One obvious perk of setting up  here is that you don’t have to go it alone.  There’s a feast of resources on your doorstep ranging from the newly launched culinary incubator, Kitchenette, to the Guardian’s masterclasses on how to launch your own food start-up.  There’s also the opportunity to ‘beta-test’ your business at farmer’s markets, festivals, and food stands, before diving in at the deep end. Meat Liqor, Pizza Pilgrims and Daddy Donkey are some examples of brands that have tested out their menus with customers before forking out (see what we did there?!) on pricy properties that might house their businesses.

So, if this is enough to whet your appetite and you would like to find out more about starting up your own food business, we are extremely excited to announce that this week we have a two-course Generate meal-deal on our entrepreneurial menu: an hour-long conversation between the Founder of Leon, Henry Dimbleby, and food journo Felicity Cloake on Thursday, plus a one-to-one mentoring session to explore your food start-up ideas with LSE alumnus, Nick Troen, co-founder of the successful Poncho8.  There are still a few places left on each, so if you’d like to ‘book a table’, go to CareerHub!

Good luck with your endeavours, and hopefully next time I wander down a street in London, it’ll be your successful pop-up restaurant I come across!