Residency is an initiative to pair vacant restaurant venues with emerging chefs, restaurateurs and food and drink concepts is launching in London this month, a partnership from restaurant property consultancy Distrkt and restaurant experts Montana Fogg. The new enterprise will offer a solution to London’s surge in empty restaurant units and the restrictions posed by high rents and business rates, which makes opening new ventures a widespread challenge. Residency will give budding operators the chance to bring their hospitality concepts to life, and to trial them in ready-made, bricks-and-mortar restaurant sites. At the same time, landlords will benefit from additional revenue, vibrancy and increased footfall, as they await a permanent resident.