In his capacity as Chairman of Roux restaurants, Von Clemm visited London Docklands in the early 1980s, in the company of London Docklands Development Corporation Chief Executive Reg Ward. He was looking for a site for a food processing plant and the old West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs seemed to be a sensible location. Billingsgate Market had already moved there from the City of London and the site was well linked with transport, land was relatively cheap and there were incentives available for regeneration projects.