A new gourmet burger restaurant in Dorchester is taking shape.
Work is well under way ahead of the opening of Hub Box in Brewery Square on Monday, October 17.
This will be the south west chain's 12th restaurant and its first in Dorset.
The Eldridge Street restaurant has brought 25 new jobs to the area and staff training is taking place to familiarise new recruits with the restaurant's unique ethos and emphasis on the provenance of its food.
Hub Box operations director Sameer Shetty in the chain's new Dorchester restaurant
Operations director Sameer Shetty said opening a new branch in Dorchester was an easy decision.
"We chose Dorchester because we really liked this building itself in Brewery Square and there aren't any other similar restaurants here.
"In our growth plans it seemed wise enough to go along the south coast, we've got a restaurant in Portsmouth and Weymouth and Bournemouth might be other places we'd go to."
The Dorchester restaurant, which has decor in keeping with the building's former guise as the Eldridge Pope brewery, will seat 120 diners.
Among its offerings will be beefburgers, chicken burgers, vegan burgers, hotdogs, salads and fries.
Burgers vary from the choice of a 'classic' to a more substantial 'big Kahuna' - a double 4oz patty with BBQ pulled pork, Swiss cheese, smoky BBQ sauce, mayo, lettuce and onion rings.
Cocktails and craft beers are also on the menu, along with desserts and a breakfast offering.
Mr Shetty said: "We're looking forward to the opening. It's going to be good, we've done well with all our openings so far and people find the food amazing. What we do differently is that we want the experience of coming here to be amazing, whether people are just having a beer or a coffee. It's important to us that we get every little thing right."
Using local south west producers is key for Hub Box, which uses Cornish bakery Baker Tom's for its buns, Colwith Farm in mid Cornwall for potatoes for hand-cut fries and Rare and Pasture - an artisan organic charcuterie and smokery - for its hot dogs.
Meat supplier Philip Warren has farms across Devon and Cornwall, with grass-fed moorland cattle used for the chain's burgers. Radstock-based Castlemead Poultry supplies the chicken burgers.
Although the cost-of-living crisis may limit the number of times people eat out, Mr Shetty says he hopes people will still make the choice to come to Hub Box.
"We know that people are having a hard time but we think that people would rather spend money somewhere they can have a really good time.
"People will have that experience and we hope they will tell other people about us and what we do."
Hub Box opens in Dorchester on October 17. For more information see the website hubbox.co.uk
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