It is perhaps one of the most controversial coffee shops in the UK, with its traditional sourdough and new branches that cause an equal reaction of pleasure and disgust.
But Gail's bakery seems to arouse a new row of the debate about the overexpansie, after he has allowed to use a computer algorithm to help them select places for new branches.
Co-founder, Tom Molnar, explained that the algorithm is a less advanced form of AI who helps them decide what a 'good place' makes to open a store.
Speaking on the hungry podcast, Mr. Molnar said: 'So those algorithms have built it, I mean, it is probably eight years that we have built. It is as if, why would someone want a bakery in every neighborhood?
'And in principle we ended up an algorithm that you can tell every zip code in the country, what we could do there, based on what we have done.
'We want to go to a place that is competitive. So you look at the competitive landscape, you look at the footstep, you look at access to transport, you look at the editions available for these people, so demography.
“And we put them in a model that learns in itself. So every new site I have, I put it in.
'Ai is more advanced, but it is the same kind of thinking where you can just continue to feed a model and the model can tell you, hey you can look at this area, I think this may work.
Gail's co-founder Tom Molnar explained that the algorithm is a less advanced form of AI who helps them decide what a 'good place' makes to open a store
The bakery, which started in 2005 as an independent coffee shop in Hampstead, has developed into a coffee empire with more than 130 stores
Gail's plans to open up to 40 more stores next year and to hire another 1,000 staff while the bakery company insists with expansion plans despite bitter 'gentrification' rows
“And at least we get that beginning and we can say, let's use science, now we have to use our brains, that's 50% of the answer.”
And while Gail's seem to benefit from massive expansion, the chic chain has experienced unbridled growth in the last three years and is now appreciated for an estimated £ 500 million – more than double the £ 200 million in 2021.
The store has led to a large gap between residents in towns and villages throughout the country.
In August, hundreds of inhabitants in Walthamstow signed a petition to try to prevent the café from opening on their main street due to fears that the independent stores could be outside of operation.
And while the bakery was opened, the owner of Village Bakery, an independent store at Orford Road in Walthamstow told Mylondon that she should sell the store after the 'worst December in 19 years', just three months after the Gail was opened.
The chic chain has experienced unbridled growth over the past three years and is now appreciated for an estimated £ 500 million
Customers who are waiting for coffee in the Gail's Branch in Walthamstow Village in October
Gail's chairman Luke Johnson is depicted in the Soho Branch
Gail is of the opinion that it has benefited from the High Street crisis of empty stores, and takes sites with favorable deals from landlords who are desperate for rental income after a closure.
A Gail spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We understand the care around chains, but our opinion is that a healthy main street is one with a variety of quality each offers their best.
'High streets evolve over time and we often open our bakeries in closed benches or restaurants, improving the landscape of the Hoofdstraat.
“All our bakeries exist in areas where the choices are broad and grow – we believe that the improvement in our food landscapes is something to celebrate.”
And the outrage at the opening of Gail's Bakeries continued to grow, people in Petersfield complained that the prosperous area is 'Londonised' after Gail had opened a store there.
While residents in Greenwich said that the opening of a Gail's made the area feel that it felt more gentrified.
Mr Molnar added: 'Now it's just math, right? So you still have to bring your head to that neighborhood, ask some questions, feel which side of the street, is it a building that you love? Is it things like this? But yes, I get half of it to be science.
“And that was a creative process. It is as if, why would anyone be? Well, maybe it's a bit about schools, right? How many schools are there? How many churches are there? How far are you from the tube?
'But what I think is that Gail's can exist because there are many people in the area, near a tube, you know rich, right? And then one can do it really well because you know, it is actually in a community that doesn't have much, and you know that they have to drive somewhere else and there is not many footsteps. '
The bakery, which started in 2005 as an independent coffee shop in Hampstead, has developed into a coffee empire with more than 130 stores.
And Gail's plans to open up to 40 more stores next year and to hire another 1,000 employees while the bakery company insists with expansion plans despite bitter 'gentrification' rows.
Mr. Molnar has revealed that he focuses on £ 300 million in sales next year in the midst of plans to open another 30 to 40 bakeries in 2025.
Mr. Molnar said: 'Architecture and real estate have brought many of my decisions early on, as if I loved the site, I would say it really doesn't matter from the neighborhood.
'As we get bigger, we think okay, we know it's a neighborhood, and we find a beautiful building there. And we always love the challenge.
'It is a kind of half math and half art. Because, I mean, you can do something, we have algorithms that I have built kind, I have built with a number of boys, which is a creative process.
“So I mean, I want to put science in it, right? Because I want to free my mind in the room to really think about the place. '
