Virtual Hero makes senior appointments to drive fried chicken brand, Sides’ growth

Adam Maddock and Gordon McDermott will work on the brand to begin its ambitious expansion plans of bringing its chicken dishes to the UK and beyond

Virtual Hero has made two new senior appointments to its development team to work on the fried chicken brand, Sides, as it forges ahead with its ambitious growth plans. Adam Maddock and Gordon McDermott will work on the brand, beginning its ambitious expansion plans to bring its chicken dishes to the UK and beyond.

Adam has been named the marketing director for Sides and Gordon takes on the role of head of food at Virtual Hero.

Adam has a wealth of experience across youth culture, talent, and marketing, from developing the music and talent strategy for LADbible and securing opportunities with global stars such as Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish and Will Smith, to working at Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment on campaigns for multi-platinum artists such Little Mix and One Direction. He is passionate about the food and restaurant sector and has built up a food blog that has achieved over 70 million-plus views and thousands of followers around the world.

Adam said: “I am excited to be working alongside the team at Sides as we look to position ourselves as a fast-casual brand of the future. Sides is a game-changing brand that is responding to the needs of the modern consumer and I’m looking forward to working on campaigns to drive our global growth.”

Gordon has garnered a mass of experience in the fast-casual and food scene, working with some of the biggest and best brands in the world, including Costa Coffee, McDonald’s and Deliveroo. He has worked on food and beverage development for Marks and Spencer’s and Waitrose where he honed his commercial, technical, and development skills. He is also a classically trained chef and has worked with some of the UK’s greatest chefs, including Gary Rhodes at People Palace, Anton Mosimann at The Savoy on the Strand and Quaglino’s, and working as Rick Steins’ head chef at the prestigious seafood cookery school in Padstow for almost five years.

Gordon McDermott added: “I am delighted to be joining the Sides team. Sides is an exciting brand shaking up the virtual restaurant market and I am looking forward to utilising my knowledge of the retail and food sector as we forge ahead with our global growth strategy.”

Developed in collaboration with famous YouTube collective The Sidemen, Sides is part of Virtual Hero, owned by Hero Brands, the company behind the exploding fast-casual chain German Doner Kebab, plus Choppaluna, Island Poké and XIX Vodka. Working in partnership with the creator collective to develop the brand, Sides is the latest cloud kitchen-based food mega brand to launch in multiple locations simultaneously, via REEF’s community hubs.

The Sides menu allows customers to choose their protein – chicken or plant-based – in either a delicious sando, slider, salad or to be loaded up with the choice of seven different flavours – chipotle, classic buffalo, BBQ, Korean BBQ, Teriyaki, Garlic Mayo, Louisiana. Customers also select an accompanying side such as waffle fries, mac n cheese, side slaw, onion rings and cheese poppers.

Sides is available to order across London and the UAE with 200 sites set to open globally by the end of 2022.

Virtual Hero CEO, Robin Mehta, said: “At Virtual Hero, we are responding to emerging consumer trends in this fast-growing market and building the virtual brands of the future. We’re excited to welcome both Adam and Gordon to our team and look forward to having their expertise as we bring this new virtual brand to consumers across the UK and beyond.”

Image: (L-R) Adam Maddock and Gordon McDermott