INTERESTED IN OPENING YOUR OWN RESTAURANT?

In January 2005 we had the same idea! As soon as we agreed a price for the building (derelict building!) the problems started. It took us 6 months just to complete the purchase. But once the renovation started it only took 13 weeks to transform the building into a beautiful restaurant. We spent 12 months researching and planning everything. We thought we knew it all... we thought!

Only by going through it all do you actually realise what lies ahead! But by then it's too late if you don't like what you find. If only we had known someone who had developed a restaurant from scratch and could have given us advice.

Our whole development was filmed for the Channel 4 programme 'Risking It All'. We were fortunate to receive advice from business guru Martin Webb and Gordon Ramsay (see photo's) but it has been a steep, steep learning curve!

We opened in November 2005 and, having now completed our first sucessful year, we are astounded by how much knowledge we have gained from this whole experience.

We started our restaurant because we liked to eat fresh, home-cooked food - and nowhere else in the local area was doing this. Other places were just selling pre-prepared, bought-in and frozen food. We believe this concept has helped us create a successful restaurant, and we want other people to do the same.

This prompted us to offer a consultancy service - to advise and help other people who want to do what we have done and set up their own restaurant or catering business.

We can help you on everything - from start to finish. The areas we can help you with include:

• Finding the location / premises
• Lease or purchase?
• Legal work - premises/licensing/employment
• Finding the right architect and builder
• Project management - can you do it yourself?
• Finding suppliers
• Recruitment and training
• Promotion / PR
• Tax, VAT and PAYE
• Etc, etc!!

If you don't have experience of running a restaurant you can even spend time working with us in our restaurant to gain valuable experience.

Of course we charge a fee for our consultancy service but we guarantee you will more than save this cost just by avoiding the mistakes that we made, and everyone makes, in the early days. For example, it has taken us 12 months to identify the best suppliers for all our fresh food - and saved us 60% of what the 'usual' suppliers charge. This alone would save you approximately £12,000 every year based on a 50 cover restaurant!

You can even copy our whole concept if you wish, right down to the name. Why not use our legal experts, accountants, bankers, suppliers, etc - and make life a lot easier!

If you would like further details, please email us a summary of your proposed plan / idea / dream, along with your contact information and we will call you back for an informal chat. Contact Karen or Marcus for further details.