Nugs open Eastwood business in a shipping container

Reis Esiroglu and Charlie Fairbrother initially set their sights on opening fast food business Nugs when the Covid pandemic hit and will now welcome customers to the pop-up stand selling nuggets and sauces in Progress Road.

They have agreed with the owners of Tapp’d Cocktails to pitch up their branded shipping container and sell food outside the business, but hope to open a permanent site if the business proves a hit.

Nugs offers a range of southern fried chicken nuggets with half-a-dozen varied sauces on offer.

The pop-up stand opened for the first time yesterday and will be in place until May 19.

Reis, 30, said: “We opened the doors and within minutes we had 20 people, it has been absolutely insane.

“The feedback has been amazing; we seem to have really hit the spot for a lot of people and people love a small independent business.

“We make everything at Nugs by ourselves and we try to make sure the quality is up there; we want people to get value for their money, so we hand dice our chicken and make sauces from scratch.

“It is something people really respect.”

Reis added that the shipping container began as an idea from a pop-up event the business did in London that was shelved for years before being revived to come to south Essex.

“I used to work in music and events and that was my job for ten years, until the pandemic when I lost my job,” she added.

“I was made redundant and then we had the idea for Nugs as a side hustle at festivals.

“Me and Charlie are very much foodies, and I was sitting around after losing my job and we initially started from home.

“I was cooking all our food on a £20 fryer and she was delivering, it was crazy at first, we had hundreds of people, it began to annoy our neighbours.”

Reis is hoping to encourage people down to the container while they have the space, focusing on taking in person orders, where they “can enjoy their Nugs and a beer”.