On 8 March, Francis Road – already one of East London’s quietly thriving neighbourhood strips – gets a full female-founder KERB takeover. Less performative celebration, more tangible proof that some of the capital’s most exciting food businesses are being built, quite successfully, by women. Which feels like a far more meaningful way to mark the occasion.
By now, the Saturday market has started settling into that coveted status of local ritual. The kind of place you “just pop by” and somehow lose an hour. But this particular edition brings together founders whose stories are as compelling as the food they’re serving.
At the heart of it all is Banzai Kitchen, founded by mother-and-daughter duo Sumiko and Ocean. Their signature karaage – anchored in a family recipe with serious heritage credentials – feels like exactly the sort of dish that explains why street food, at its best, is rarely just about eating. Since graduating from KERB’s women-only InKERBator programme, they’ve been steadily building the kind of loyal following that can only come from doing something genuinely well.
A similar trajectory follows Hanoi Cà Phê, where founder Gina channels family tradition into deeply comforting Vietnamese cooking. Recipes passed down through generations tend to carry a different sort of weight – less trend-driven, more quietly confident – and the food reflects that. Rich, layered, unapologetically rooted in memory.
Elsewhere, the line-up reads like a snapshot of London’s culinary diversity. Utopia Food, founded by Syrian entrepreneur Hind Danoun, delivers Middle Eastern flavours steeped in authenticity and storytelling. Mexclub leans into tacos, birria, and tortas that avoid dilution in favour of heritage. And then there’s Deeney’s, whose iconic haggis toastie has long since earned cult status across East London – proof that comfort food is a universal language.
What makes this takeover particularly satisfying, though, is that it stretches beyond hot food. The market unfolds more like a neighbourhood ecosystem of women-led businesses: small-batch bakes, granola, kimchi, nut butters, drinking chocolate, maple syrup, honey – the sort of producers that quietly define how London really eats now. Thoughtful, independent, proudly niche. Even the dogs are catered for, courtesy of Littlest Paws Club, because Leyton understands priorities.
And then, of course, there’s Francis Road itself – a street that already hums with women-owned permanent fixtures. Florists, bookshop cafés, produce stores, kitchens. The takeover feels less like an isolated event and more like an amplification of something already happening here: a neighbourhood built on independent energy, community, and businesses with actual personality.
KERB Francis Road’s regular market takes place every Saturday from 10am–4pm at Francis Road, Leyton, E10