Good news, meatball fans! Ikea could soon be opening their own standalone cafés

YOU may go to Ikea in seach of a flat-packed chest of drawers or some cheap cushions, but you almost certainly stay for the food.

Designed to feed weary customers after hours traipsing around the shop, the Swedish superstore's meatballs are now legendary across the globe - prompting company bosses to consider opening standalone cafes and restaurants.

A year after the first store opened in Sweden in 1958, Ikea Food was born and - almost 60 years later - the Scandinavian classics have not gone out of fashion.

So how has the idea only just come about?

“This might sound odd, but it’s almost something we didn’t notice,” Ikea Food’s managing director Michael La Cour told .

“But when I started putting the numbers into context of other food companies, suddenly I could see, well, it really is not that small.”

Ikea made an enormous £28.6 billion last year. Most of these sales come from furniture, but they made £1.2 billion from food alone in 2013.

Ikea opened a pop-up eatery called The Dining Club in Shoreditch, east London, in September 2016.

It wasn't a restaurant as such - customers had to cook their own food with the help of a sous chef, before sitting down to eat with 20 mates - but it was a huge success.

Of course, most people aren't dedicated enough to drive all the way to their nearest Ikea simply to sample the food.

But the idea of city centre cafes will seem pretty appealing to Ikea's massive meatball fan base.

Not a fan of minced meat? Ikea sell chicken and vegan meatballs too - so there really is something for everyone.

If you're unable to separate the idea of Ikea's meatballs from their flat-pack furniture, these are the store's most in-demand items... and of one them only costs £5.

And, if you are heading to the store, you may be interested to know that Ikea Family members get a FREE meal after 4.30pm on weeknights, when buying home furnishings.

That's right, free meatballs - which should satisfy your appetite while Ikea consider their next move.

Speaking to the Sun Online, an Ikea spokesman said: “IKEA Food is continuously thinking of how to meet the growing interest in food among consumers and find ways to meet them where they are.

“While we have experimented with new ways of enjoying IKEA food – including through pick-up points and pop up restaurant events in London, Paris and Toronto - no decisions on standalone restaurants have been made at this time.”