Hi guys, welcome to another episode of Chef Life by Cottage Foods. I'm here to say we
mark it the old and late. Hi Mark. Hi Dan, you alright?
Good, yeah good. So yeah, just we've been working with you now probably just over a
year. Sounds about right. So we started with Liz at home and then met you through that
connection there and then yeah since then you've moved sites against this what you've
heard site with our. Yeah so we've started well with me and Liz
open home and from there we opened the Owl in the Market then through Covid and other
reasons we found the market wasn't right size for us and we wanted to expand what we're
doing and give a better offering. So we found this site here in Musta Warp which is down
by the canal and but the site wasn't ready until there was like a few month gap so we
had to find it in from place between the market and here and we moved into Homes Old Venue
and popped up there for a bit and then we opened up here May last year 2022 and we've been
trading here for about a year now really yeah. It's a beautiful space to be fair like
in terms of just the outlay and things how many covers are you getting in here? So we
aim for about 56 covers that's like our maximum sit down we can do. We do have some space
outside for casual dining so we do like a grazing tray offering which is like slightly
large in snacks so it's kind of like pick and mix you know like you just have a beer
have some crumpets have some oysters so it's quite simple and relaxing and then we do more
of our dining offer inside so lunch, dinner, tasting menus. Awesome and do you find that
in terms of customers what they buy more of is it tasting menus or I think why we like
about you versus some other customers I feel your tasting menu changes are quite push the
boundaries don't tend to say too safe for that I quite like the variety that you offer.
So what we find is like we do basically we do like an ala we do an ala cart which is
set a set price but you can but but you choose what you want each course so depending on
what the occasion is some people who are just coming out every week over two weeks or go
for the ala cart and then people on a special occasion or go for the set menu but it just
variety so we try to offer different things for different people so we're a bit more
flexible what we can offer people so they it meets all the needs. Yeah I think there's
something in that we found was told on the 8th and the other week and what I found really
interesting at the moment is this sort of you guys aren't a country pub but that almost
you can have a standard menu meal mixed in with a taste of many of that's what you want
I think offering those ends of the spectrum and start to work really well across a number
of sort of restaurant platforms and we find them with like good country dining is kind
of working well with some of our customers and again that inner city I mean you know
in terms of leads and stuff I think you guys offer something really different. Yeah we
try to be we try to be as flexible as we can be so not every diner is the same so some
people are coming in and they're coming in for something quick so we offer that and some
people coming in for something like the meal out every two weeks with their friend and
the family and we offer something for that and then some people are something a bit more
special celebration something they can really enjoy and we offer that as well we try to
make sure that everything we do is the same standard so it doesn't matter what you come
in and you get so if you come in and get a crumpet that's the best we possibly can do
awesome and if you come and get a taste of a new is the best we possibly can do. It doesn't
matter what you're getting we want it to be the best it can be. Yeah that's the right
way to approach any business really you know it's funny that it translates into us you
know I want to offer you the best possible product of the best service and I think that's
what stands a test of time. Exactly what it starts though everything starts with the product
so if the raw product is good then everything that pulls off it will be good because you
can't start with bad foundations. Yeah so that's why we work with you guys. You'd be
surprised though the amount of people we've met over the years where price it's hard
running a business that's all understanding but price becomes such a factor that quality
slips but then the headline price for consumers is still quite high and you're like I just
don't know I don't know you can stand by that in terms of what your sort of volumes are
you know it's a business. Well I find at the moment everything's a bit
inflation is misleading in the sense of if I go to McDonald's and I buy a big Mcville
it's only a pound more. Yeah. But people don't really see the maths in it they see oh it's
only a pound but they don't realise it's gone up 25% exactly and if I sell a 50 pound or
100 pound weather and I put it at 25% it's 25 pound and you go oh how do you put your
stock 25 pound because it's not relative isn't it. It's relative. Yeah so people don't always
see that so we're like at the moment that's like that trying to. I think that's quite
interesting because my background is food manufacture I work for a number of brands
going into more FMCG so Tesco was doing something and it was always interesting when the horse
skating happened. I felt the consumers were so shocked and I'm like well you're expecting
to buy eight beef burgers for less than a quid you know the farmers got to make money Tesco
got to make their money you know everyone's got to earn and the cow needs to be raised
and all this stuff. Yeah. And I think there's a real disconnect and I don't think that's
ever changed between what people what the work you guys put in in the kitchen and the
quality of ingredients that you're using and the price to run the business and to have
that experience you know I mean whereas Mackie's like you say it's alright because it's a low
end high price increase. People don't really understand like English England as a country
don't understand food we're terrible with food and sense of if you go to France or go
to Italy or go to these places they have farmers markets and they go and buy something and
they understand that there's a lot of effort going into that and they want to use the best
stuff but you know you go to Morrison's Tesco's or whatever and you want a chicken breast for
the lowest possible price but you don't realize the thing that goes into it isn't great because
everything's relative you don't put any investment into something then you won't get anything
out of it so if you put a minimum amount of money into food then the end result will be
minimal as well. But people don't really see that and they should. No I think there's a
big disconnect overall with people's relationship with food and stuff and it's been quite interesting
for me going from dealing with the retail and I dealt with some excellent buyers then
coming over and dealing with people of your calibre where quality is absolutely everything
whereas there's always a balance between quality and price. Price was generally the 99% driving
factor and that's that really nice passion especially with what we do. I've jumped ahead
quite a bit so do you want to tell people where you've come from how you've got here
in? Yeah so when I started out at school decided I wanted to be a chef so I went to work so
I went to college at Thanet College which is one of the best colleges down south and
then from there I did I went and did some work experience off my own back at Lagavrosh
and Waterside Inn both of those and then from that I got off of the job in London at Lagavrosh
I worked there for a bit and then I came back to work in Kent around Kent so I worked a
few places around Kent you know Rosette, Submission of Star place. It's a good scene down there
as well isn't it? Yeah it's alright it's alright it's getting a lot better it was okay but
now it's getting a lot better it's weird like where I'm from there's a lot of chain places
so it's that whole drinking and all that. Yeah so it's not always the best places you
have to go like where I'm from Mainstones like there's this town and then around the
town areas there's more independent places that offer better options so yeah it's less
there's less good places down in Kent but you still have to look a lot harder to find
them yeah but there are good places so you should be clever that and then from there
I got I got offered to work with someone I worked for to open a restaurant and hotels
and rooms in Cyprus so I went work there for a couple years yeah yeah so I lived there
for two years and then came back and just went up north north went to the start at Herum
it's like what we're up to seeing a sous chef there and then time was right to move on to
do sous-saint myself so I went and took an executive chef job kind of like a gastropub
group called the fleece and I created here from Adningham and was there for a few years
and then I got offered positions head chef at the the box tree and so I did that for
a few more years got the kept the star there you know all the stuff that things tells and
then from there I met my business partner Liz and we opened home restaurant on the Leeds
and then this and then the Al and Cora and Boston Spa and then that's now you're up
yeah now rapid journey how did you find Cyprus versus what you've done down south quite change
or yeah so it was kind of so when I went there I was playing football a lot and I ripped
my ACL my knee so it wasn't built yet so it took like five months to build so I was recovering
while well planning and stuff so it was actually quite different essentially because I got
paid based to recover which was good and then it was really good being in Cyprus but being
a like an island it had a lot of like I found it hard to get ingredients infrastructure
wasn't really great there so it was a lot harder to get stuff we needed so yeah more
of a focus on traditional food out there like yeah so there was like there was a yes there
was like three different styles of food there was like old traditional like kleftico meze
eating which was like from the Turkish and Greek influence to the island and then there
was there was a real kind of Western influence food so like a really like the hotels are
really Western and my high end but with a really high price point and we're trying to
be somewhere in the middle so yes so that was kind of what they did they also did there
was also there was a really high like the best way to explain it's kind of like a chain
restaurant style of food where it's more for tourists so it's like it's really simple
and you know like it's just taking chips and accessible stuff so there was like kind of
free kind of styles of food something really traditional something really Western like
high end and something that kind of was like kind of more like a version of a chain restaurant
so did you find so we were sort of one of the big catalysts for us changing our range
and sort of moving bit more and I work with a really cool chef called Thomas Lubasky Greek
chap works in Wakefield gone back to Greece now unfortunately but he really opened my
eyes to a lot of their cuisine and and yeah it's my favourite place to travel now to eat
it to be honest but I really like their food their traditional food and and all that behind
it and again going back to what we were saying earlier on that quality of ingredient you
know I have faith almost without seeing who the restaurants purchased off that it's legit
gear they'll know the farm they'll know the dairy whatever yeah and yeah I kind of fell
in love with Greek food from meeting Thomas but would you say have you taken anything from
that time and sort of brought it with you yeah so the raw ingredient simple flavors around
those ingredients is something they really like to do look you had to be really local
with your farmers and your suppliers because it wasn't a supply chain yeah so you had to
do it so using local suppliers working with what's available to you around you basically
come of our key key things we do so I'd say yeah that's mainly kind of things I took from
it yeah interesting and would you from my experience would you travel again to chef
or I mean I probably can't now so kind of a position like where I've got some things
holding me here but if I had my time again yeah I'd do it again it was interesting it
was great I mean the worst thing about is the bit beforehand you know you're thinking
about all the things that can go right and can't go right and it's like holding you back
but then as soon as you take your first one the plane you're out there you think to yourself
why do I ever think about stuff it's so easy and simple yeah fine it's just one of my best
friends Justin he lives in Texas now but he lived with me for a bit his apartment he broke
with his girlfriend got off of the job through a friend out in Germany spoke two words in
German he was like fuck it and similar to you you know he's quite enchepied about it
but then yeah he got there lived out in Germany for two years now he lives in New York Texas
like he's traveled all over and that's awesome because you'll remember him being so nervy
with it but you just figured it out it's so easy it's like you just think why would I
ever think about this as easy yeah it's just one of those but it's really interesting looking
from a different angle that work with Woodall Spar, Shane up there, great ladies, she's
Chinese, her story was she went China to Australia and that's a massive language barrier and
then from Australia to Leeds basically yeah and she was saying you know you did in Australia
it was very much French based cooking yeah so a lot of lingo was in French so she was
trying to learn English and then French and then implement that in her work and she was
like wow that was a bit of a head fuck you know that's the real testament I suppose similar
to yourself like yeah imagine then I'll speak in English in the kitchens you'd help me figure
out Greek and yeah well yeah it definitely was like that it was well the outsider was
on the Turkish side so it was Turkish but because you know like I said the life pieces
of the islands like a Mediterranean islands and it's you know they say Yavuz Yavuz which
is slowly slowly which everything they do slowly slowly you know they're cousins in
the council and someone else who's a family is doing something else and you have to get
this permission to do that and that permission to do that and they can't the other thing
as well because it's so hot during the day they can't work from 11 to about 5 and then
at night so they have to stop for 6 hours because you know you're 40 degree plus weather
you know you can seriously yeah dehydrate and have problems so everything was slow so
I had like 5-6 months of just basically planning so I got to learn the language and plan and
do stuff that ordinary wouldn't have had chance to do so it worked out quite well for me.
Awesome it was a real testament to the experience that and then sort of taking your first steps
from that then obviously coming back working again over here taking your first steps with
Liz with home how did you find that going into your own business did you find what challenges
that you didn't foresee and yeah well yes it was it's a good learning curve and I think
so I mean I'm fairly fearless in certain things like I don't always think about the
problems I just kind of go ahead of them and plan and get things in the best possible state
but generally I like to think those problems will sort themselves out if we plan properly
exactly so it was it was hard to start with like any new business it was it was hard you
know like early starts late finishes not having enough staff you know being a new place how
do you how do you recruit how do you attract the level of staff you want for the ambition
of what you're doing so we had that and then we're also learning on the job what we what
we want to do you know it's you know you're a chef and then when you open a restaurant
not just a chef you're a restaurant too which means you need to learn how the front of house
works marketing works finances recruitment and you know you go from knowing 15 20% to
having to know a number of 800 certainly how'd you get to that point so there's a lot of
trial and error working somebody knows a lot of stuff is always good because they're because
you don't get experience without having experience and did you split that role will is the chef
certain skill sets and you had certain yeah I had certain skillsets and she has certain
skill set so from like the from the first thing like mainly development for the first
six six to eight weeks like before we opened out I was doing a lot of that she was involved
by a lot but she was more involved in like the fuck the marketing and other stuff but
she'd show me how to do that and then you know we'd work together on the on the dev and
then then it was like days they running the kitchen days they run the floor we got something
and floor and we just kept adding people to the the team roster and have you found with
the staff so what I found it's a we've had to put food just over six years now and I
found that I brought Jennifer and his my business partner about six to eight months in we'd work
together previously but the big thing for us has been staff yeah right people like Brianna
and Amy's for in the team now at Exxon but kind of had to go through a lot of learnings
with other people yeah whether or not met our expectations the current team that that's
made this business shine for us in terms of owning in things.
Well he's exactly right yeah we've had we've had a lot of trial and error we've had some
people that we we've had a lot of people we thought would work out haven't worked out
we have people that have worked out but then their life changes and they have life things
that have to and they can't work and lead them or whatever so you have to be able to
roll those punches I mean yes it's a constant learning curve so you learn from each person
certain people do certain things and you you have to work out is it carrot is it stick
what this person needs not every person is the same the general rule of how you want
people to act and what you expect from them but generally it's it does change reach personally
have to be a bit more.
Is that true and that's true what I found.
Yeah I say that's why it's it's we we don't generally hire an experience because no one's
really got the experience that you need anymore and it's and it's really hard that when I
was like a comedy chef whatever I would have go for a job and there'd be five or six or
seven people applying for the same job and they would have had at least the same experience
or more than me so it was a challenge to show why I was the best person for that job.
And now you get lots you can get quite a few applicants for a job like five or six but
the experience level is so so so low and unrealistic unrealistic ability level for the position
they're applying for and you have to be able to train them up to be able to do what you
want and a lot of investment in your time is a low investment.
So yeah it's come from being maybe five or six for one job to one person for a job maybe
so it's like it's it's gone down so.
Are you finding that across because what I find interesting with all the restaurant
customers you would like to say in early you got such a range of staff functions you know
yeah front of house you know wine and then all the different roles in the kitchen do
you taking that approach you sorry you finding people with a lack of experience across all
functions find the front of house generally that we are a bit more likely front of house
it find it feels like the skills that need to speak in front of house person is is less
technical stuff like cooking is more of a technical thing than front of house position
so we find the right person who has the right attitude we're able to add skills to them
a lot easier and and they're more multifunctional so it's easier to use them in various different
roles whereas if they're a chef position it's more you know having the right attitude part
of it then there's like organizations being able to organize yourself be able to manage
yourself and then on top of it it's like right can you can you cook can you taste can you
do all these things so there's a there's a few more multifunctional things I find the
chef so it isn't always just the right attitude but if they need to be able to learn quite
well as well yeah so having an IQ always helps yeah and be organized and are you allowing
the chefs to lead you a bit in terms of menu creation or are you do keep that well we do
we have conversations all the time what could be good in the menu but the what I found lately
is is that it's hard like the younger chefs trying to get them to come up with ideas is
quite difficult that we what we tried to say this is this is the our restaurant so the
our restaurant has a tone a theme absolutely how we do things in the menu so you need to
you need to understand what we do and you have to work in those constructive constraints
and I had a few people come back with ideas that they just they don't fit within what
we are and so they're and you're trying to explain the constructive way of like this
is ideas good but you need to do this to this to it to make it fit within line of what we
do it's like if it was lucky music time I like we're a rock band yeah and you're bringing
the R&B to me or hip hop yeah you know you can't go in this thing you need to you need
to change it around to fit within what we're doing it's not to say the raw ingredients
aren't right or your technique of cooking it isn't right but you know the way you explain
it as the temple yeah as the fit and what we're doing yeah so that we do have those
conversations all the time like generally we're from a food dev point of view we we've
been working so long on different dishes and what we do we generally have like our hero
dishes that we really like and then we just keep tweaking them so we did it last year
this was this is the dish last year as it was right what worked really well on it how
that did what what could we improve on it all that and then we just we just kind of strip
away the fat and then just yeah you're not reinventing the wheel of trying to hone things
we are we we generally are because I'm our menus change every eight weeks so generally
on our menus there are probably 80% 75% of dishes that have been on before last season
that we want to bring back to for the so good and they'd be like 25% of actually brand new
dishes so essentially we always are we always are something new coming on yeah menu but
we don't want to overflow overload people brand new stuff so they can't manage it yeah so
we want we want similar we're also like similar techniques so if someone changes it was change
a dish that the actual technique how we get to the end product is familiar to people so
they don't freak out they can they can relate to that and go all right so I did this two
months ago and did this way and then but I'm doing this and it actually connects I can
see how it connects and it's a little bit easy for me to learn so we try to connect things
with familiar ideas so when people do learn it they can learn it a lot quicker and easier
yeah interesting I think I think that's that that's all magic in the kitchen is is the
interesting bit and I suppose going back to the team part you know they've got a fit within
that rhythm within the temple of how you guys work and how they learn and like I'm saying
with IQ like assimilate into how you cook for the style of the hour and all this sort
of stuff quite just and in terms of your menu so you talk there about the theme of the hour
what would you want your average consumer to kind of think about here you know if you
were looking to so what we aim to be is basically it's our e-force is mostly between get around
gaming fish so whatever's really good in Yorkshire is kind of what we look for so like the game
of fish for the new Yorkshire and we're always looking for Yorkshire products because we're
a Yorkshire restaurant so that's like what we that's like our core statement for food
from a kitchen point of view from like a consumer point of view of what they're what we would
like them to think about our food is interesting really tasty and really craveable they want
to come back and try this and it sees their expectations like you know they get comfort
from what they're getting but they also a little bit I don't know how you did that how
you do that so there's a there's a little bit of a wow factor yeah those are the kind
of things what we aim for when people come I came a couple of months ago for Sunday lunch
with Dan Whitmore I'd best Sunday lunch for ever I didn't have to know Sunday lunches
could be that good it was good it was great it was like it was really good that but I
kind of like the vibe here suits what I want from a restaurant as well as just his way
settings and interior and stuff and yeah we try to be comfortable and you know comfortable
and cool really it's kind of like it's quite stripped back and like kind of industrially
cool because area but we're trying to make it as comfortable as possible so you don't
come in you feel stiff you feel uncomfortable want people to come in and feel like they
can relax and enjoy it you can relax you will enjoy something more absolutely yeah yeah
in the service was great you know it was testament there was there was nothing I couldn't knock
it all it was really good but I suppose interesting a bit like in my business trying to get you
know everything right in terms of what what you guys think of the brand and stuff and
the service and everything that what I find must be quite a head fuck for you is not just
you have to worry about the quality of this kind of kitchen you gotta worry about staffing
here the customer experience in here like do they think it's cool and it's weird isn't
it it's like it's how it works it's weird so for instance like so I guess can be in
here and we can be running around like absolute idiots in the back or in the front and we
can feel like eyes it's not going right it's it's eyes just not right working well tonight
and then someone and then tables could be like oh the best ever food was great or you know
really enjoyed it but you just don't feel it like you don't feel that it's weird so it's
like the same thing it's like somehow you can get trip advisors and you can have 10
five out of 10s you know five out of five sorry and then there's one or one one star
one two star and that can just ruin your week but you've had 10 reviews that are like perfect
that how does that how did how does that happen but we're gonna like it you say to yourself
this all the time like don't worry about you know you're doing things right or whatever
but it just affects everyone like it is weird like you would have thought like you just go
alright so it's 99% great one cent not great someone thinks it's not that not for them
right I'm happy with that but you just focus on the 1% but it's it's weird I think that's
the case having your own business that I can have we service what 200 customers and not
more than that actually 300 customers twice a week give or take and but I'll have say
you were like driver was a bit go all this was wrong that will ruin my yeah but then
I think it's because I want everyone who deals with us think we're cool as fuck and we get
it right and in my head I'm always you want to get right every single time but reality
should never get right every single time you're in a service based industry it's like here
right I could I could deliver the perfect thing for me every single time but someone may want
their their their state could well done or whatever and because we've done it perfectly
for us it's not perfect for them yeah and you can't but it goes back to what originally
talking about that I think that's mindset so what I've learned in dealing with people
like yourself is is I've learned to go it's not what I like it's what you guys like and
I'm going to enjoy what you guys like and I think that's a way to approach more interesting
dining yeah you know if I want it how I want it I'm going to go Maccadice or I'm going
to go five guys but if I want an experience then you just got a relinquished control you
know I'm not going to tell the pilot how to fight the plane you know so it's but I think
if you take that mindset to sort of higher end dining yeah I think you'll have a great
night yeah that to me is just relax and just yeah I mean yeah you have to realistic what
you're going to you know like if I go if I go to McDonald's I know what I'm getting
if I go to if I go to a man behind him no again if I go to a priest that I know and
get and you know like I have I have levels of expectations for those places there shouldn't
be one level expectation that fulfills every single thing that's just unrealistic but your
levels of expectation of what you achieve you're receiving would change with what you're
receiving yeah because that's how it works yeah exactly well this is it though it's like
the Sunday lunch analogy for me is great because I'd like to say one of the best Sunday lunch
we've ever had here and but prior to that the Mamsundee lunch is the best ever and you're
not going to cook the roasties like she's away have an expectation you know yeah it's
you've got to allow that you guys know what you're doing you've done a few years and
you're pushing the boundaries and I think that's an easy enjoyment out of being nice
places and then so where do you see the the sort of menu going you know you've got anything
that you've been working on like you're trying to push or?
So our menu format base is same same we're happy with what we are doing we're always
looking for new ingredients new new propositions new wines new suppliers new new pairings so
don't see us really changing too much so like we've changed our menu around slightly in the
sense of before so like weekdays we're doing more ala carte base menu so you can choose
whatever you want with set menus attached to it and then we do special events but from
a point I mean we're we've just basically we've just got our chocotri off here just
up and going a lot there again yeah so we we're working close with our butcher R&J and
we're getting a lot of salt aged meats and then we send it back to get mints with our
flavorings and we get really nice tritso's or tritso's now got a really good tritso
offering and true the charcoaches got a load of spec and other things working on so it's
more for us it's more more of the same trying to make it think more consistent their quality
it's not really anything radically we need to change we're really happy with what we're
doing and as there's always certain tweaks you want to do to things make things a little
bit better so like we're at the market we couldn't really do our own fresh bread we
would find in but now we've got space to do our fresh bread which we keep kept the same
you know before on a Sunday we weren't doing chocotri but we took a time we took a step
back we saw what does Sunday need to be better what can we offer you know what time gaps in
the menu in the so the giant experience what can we put in there that wouldn't that we
could that can prove it and so we just had a little bit here and there to improve we
we don't we're not really gonna radically change anything because we feel like the products
working really well and people really enjoying it so it's more for us more of the same better
quality ingredients sourcing good ingredients find out what's best the time year you know
good in season is best seasonings what we use so that's why we use guys we tried to get
some of the Japanese seasonings on things so it can improve dishes we're not we're not
stuck on something has to be a sign it you know it's this there's an ingredient that
can make something better than we will use it so always trying to develop new ideas better
ideas improve what we have so it's it's always a constant improvement where are you finding
your inspiration do you have certain things that you go to for that or is it just it's
combination of things so you know we could you could like probably could have like a
prawn cocktail and go right I want to recreate the idea of a prawn cocktail yeah not sure
how but I want to do that and then you stop picking apart and pick the ideas of what you
like about the prawn cocktail like the acidity of the tomatoes the freshness and then the
brightness of the prawns I how do I get that in a dish that and then we'd work on that
evolve that into crazy and then so for instance like the the venison for RJ's like so so good
though it's like right so you got venison right what do we do with it what do you put
with it to make the venison sing and then we'll make a dish so for instance on the menu at
the moment we got a salaric burnt raspberries are in black pudding venison with chocolate
sauce so it's like basically there's a combination of ideas but it's it's based around venison
chocolate sauce yeah fruit which is a classic combination so it's so it's taking something
really good and combining things so it's like it's a product product led dish yeah so there's
idea led dishes which is like the prawn cocktail then there's product led dishes which is like
the the venison and then sometimes what we like to do I just I go and look at other people
doing and then they've got a great idea then I take anything right to your spin I really
yeah how do I how do I reverse engineer this to make an hour dish it's a great idea what
they're doing now how do I reverse engineer it's making our dish so yeah you know there's
like and then sometimes we just take we'll just take classic dishes so for instance like
we do a treat or tart so we'll take a treat or tart and we'll just we'll do it quite simply
so for instance we do a treat or tart before and instead of using orange you see about
the bond so it's basically treat or tart we just change the flavor slightly but we kept
it as similar to what it was as before so we take we took away the tart case because
it can get us wet and then we just serve with like milk crumble and then see about for biscuit
and then see but form curd so it's essentially it's it's it's taking an idea and trying not
to mess around too much and then and then so it's like a simple idea so you've got like
ideas product like dishes reinvention of other people's ideas and then classic dishes so
it's all those kind of four or five things how we how we work simple mostly talking about
in Cyprus again isn't it like just taking those flavors and letting the flavors speak
yeah exactly some some things some things will have like free items on the dish and
it's really simple and that's what it needs and then some things that have slightly more
and it's a bit more intricate so it makes it more interesting but it's not really a
case of I think you know one size fits all you know it's it's it's working out what
you have and how you compliment it best yeah and what's your favorite dish that you'd say
not about it I mean the dish that we always seem to get like the most amount of confidence
on I don't know why it's a we do like a sourdough trumpet with a cultural pure and wild boar
jam people just seem to be crazy for it and we literally had it on with us open the market
was it's awful it's not on the we used to just do it for the snacks for everyone and
on the grazing trade now solely on the grazing straight so you'd have to buy a grazing straight
right but yeah awesome that's it's quite simple but that seems to be like everyone goes crazy
but and what they're just going back to what we talked about before so you see your sort
of journey what got you into wanting to be a chef would you cook a lot of home and defaults
or yeah so when I was when I was younger my mom used to work a lot and then I would spend
time on my grand's house and then she would be like let's cook some stuff so I'd basically
cook a lot of food my grand and she kind of got me into it and I was like enjoyed it so
and do you take any of those sort of those recipes from your childhood do you try and
reinvent those a little bit or do you think that influences anything as you go forward
or I don't think so because a lot of food we did was really comfort food so that's kind
of what how she cooked so she's a bit old and she just like cooked comfort food so she
would be like doing rice crispy cakes or she did call it a cheese and potato pie but basically
she put like layers of cheese and mash and bake it I mean it tastes really good because
of the cheese and potato but it wasn't a pie but that's the sort of thing she's doing
so she wasn't really like the best best cook in the sense of technically but she was just
really good and she's really nice and awesome and that's cool why not I find interesting
to see whether like people's influences I think are interesting as to how they're in
a weird way of a look with a step back from that I find shopping quite a strange job because
you've got so many levels to it you've got Bob who just wants to work in a pub and knock
out whatever bro is there knocking out which I imagine there's a lot of microwave things
like you've got the dudes and Mackies and then you go all the way through to like your level
and like Lisa and so what's level and I might the passion meter is so grab whereas working
in office I kind of think is working in office yeah I get me saying it's weird I I tune it
to like being an athlete like it's weird it's like you train every single day you perform
every single day and you know you're trying to find like 1% gains and 2% gains and how
do you make it better like and then you've got performance every single day and expectation
is like pressure you know like someone comes into the restaurant they expect a good meal
and the pressure of delivering the pressure you know it feels like it feels like it relates
more to like being an athlete or somehow but you know you literally have to perform and
try to put it yeah I just find the spectrum so vast versus any other job I've seen in
terms of level of give a fuck as well you know yeah it's so so so strange but then
you put it fine in my side of the restaurant trade in terms of supplies you know what I'm
drawn more to supply people like yourself and listen things but then it's how do you
make money at that how do you how do you just keep folks on those ingredients where is actually
the money is me finding a green king pub and knocking out all the baguettes yeah you know
in terms of volume but it doesn't that does absolutely nothing for me well the thing is
that it's like everything it's like 8% 20% isn't it absolutely you have to love it you
know everyone's people who deny if you have to love their job 100% and you know a perfect
world you know I'd love that yeah but there's there's always things you have to do to compromise
what you're doing to pay for the bigger yeah bigger thing so yeah I like so so yeah you
know we have people coming in the drink and they just order oysters or whatever and we
just say yeah that's fine but you know like it's not what you want to do yeah you want
to you want to offer them the best version of what you do and the most expansive so you
know sometimes you have to sometimes you have to do it yeah to pay for the the bit that
you really want to do nice it's a good way to look at it and have you found the booze
thing is that quite new feel like moving in the wines and understanding all that or we
yes and no we had a focus on it for since we opened home and we always like this is
the food and wine like business you know we want to do wine parents we at home we just
a taste of millions like it's gonna be tasting menu and it's gonna be paired with wine and
that's what we're gonna do and then we open the market and we're like all right we're
gonna do ails and it's gonna be like a choose what you want and and and come in and you
know you can have anything or we found with that was that one the problem with that is
there was people weren't really up to speed like it was just about happening down at
bar and market where people go to the markets and they go and get some cool food and cool
drinks and whatever and they understood it you know and but up in Leeds they weren't
quite up in it yet and so it was like all my tables a bit close or what I have to get
my table or what I don't sit at the bar I want to sit here you know there was a lot of there
was a lot of like oh the walls are made of wood what why are you in the market and all
this and it's like and it and yeah for us it was a really cool venue really cool cool
food and all this but a lot of people came in that it took a while to educate them that
it is cool so so then what happened was basically so we were doing the beer and then the food
and then we were like all right we want to have a few more wines so we did a more expansive
wine list to go along with food alongside the beer and then COVID happened and they
was like all right so we have to reassess what we do here so we did our home boxes and
that was really good for us so it just it gave us a revenue stream which was like tick we
need that to survive and then but then it was the secondary benefit was the fact that
it was just advertising us to everywhere so we were selling like I don't know like 200
boxes a week and we have yeah we did we had like we had two different kinds of boxes like
a premium box that like 100 pounds and then like our everyday box and people buying them
every week and was and then we had we had deliveries to DPD so it was going from you
know Scotland all the way down so we had that so it was great advertising so then during
lockdown we had time to like reassess like what do we do and then we wanted we were basically
knew that we wouldn't be able to have as many drinkers in because the rules so we just kind
of stripped back how beer offering it at the at the hour on the market and we started
replacing a bit more wine and then when this place came up we we assessed it again it's
like well you know we're going to use a straight up because they're our brand ambassador we're
in brand ambassador though and we we believe in what they do but we were using northern
Monk at the market and unfortunately I was like well what's the point of us selling
northern Monk with northern Monk refractories 200 meters away it's like it's just it's just
not worth it so so we just added a few more wines so we already work with really good
wine suppliers at home and here so we use a lot of really local stuff so we use this
company called Vince Raymos that are based in Leeds they're biodynamic we use them for
basically ever but all the time we've been trading and they're really good and then we
just added a few more people to them so like another brand we use a lot of is a Gooseborne
which is an English based sparkling so we just started adding to our collection.
Is that being quite a journey for you?
Were you quite interested in wine when you got into the sheffing or has that just been
an add-on that you like to figure out and learn?
Yes kind of an add-on that I did generally didn't drink too much wine when I was younger
but you know it's like everything it's like blue cheese you know first time you have it
you know like I don't like this but then you start requiring acquiring a taste for it
so the same the wine I wasn't too into it but then as as it became part and part and
part of what we're doing and more.
You're on the rabbit hole.
Yeah like I am like I need to know what we're selling I need to know what we're doing so
even if I'm not the biggest expert on it I need to know that things are being done the
way I want it to and we understand exactly what we're doing so you have to have a level
of knowledge that you basically know kind of what you're doing.
Again it's just like like going back to that you know managing from the house again that's
just another portion of managing things and you need to be an expert on I suppose so it's
quite quite inspiring to sort of keep all that orchestra going across all these.
Like I said we hire really good people so we're really happy on front of house team and we
have a kitchen team but at the end of the day you know you still as much you trust people
you'd still need to know it you can't direct people the way you want to go if you don't
know what you're doing.
Yeah true.
So I need to know kind of where we want to go like I kind of you give people that outlines
of what you're looking for you know and then and then they come back with ideas and you
can go right we like this we're going to work on this one like this.
So the same thing so we have a couple of wines that are basically exclusive to the Al and
Home so we work with Vince Romes and he gives a sound of reasoning it's like I think it's
only like two places in England to have it and then we're basically two of them.
And so I'm like alright seeing this online this wine and it went with this and it's really
good if you're going to think similar like and he's like oh yeah I got this and this
I'll bring you a sample and try it and then we did and like that's great.
So we go from there so sometimes I don't I may not be the most the biggest expert on
things but if these things are like and I'm like I'll come and do this and and then we
have experts around us so like the Robert Vince Romes was like an expert.
Yeah that's the key though like I find that not having people around that yeah he's taking
me a stupid amount of time to figure that out because I'm a bit dumb but actually they're
invaluable you know for different things like UK enemy and ask me something about MSG
type.
I think he's like I don't know, Jack shit about a restaurant and I'm halfway through a book
on it but I've got a guy who's really good that I go to and go okay Mark asked me for
X and he'll recommend so I don't like complete dumb.
But then we try and be honest with that as well I don't really want to talk to him over
this and I think that helps but yeah it's that expert thing I think helps.
Yeah you can't be I don't think you can be expert everything because it's pretty hard
but you want to be expert in the things you do but you also need a little base bit of
knowledge on the things that you're not expert in so you're able to direct and help get what
you want.
And you find in personal life do you get a lot of returning business here?
Yeah from the point from the start when we're from home until now our return business is
really highly like we think champion customers are essential to every business.
We think you know like we will make sure that we go above and beyond expectation that people
have come.
If you've been here before you know we're always looking to offer them something back.
You know like we do guinea pig nights and whatever and it's like you're going to get
the first refusal on that you know if we are a little bit low in the week or something
we're like alright we've got a drinks on us off we're going to offer people let's give
it to the let's send it to our priorities the people have been more times and we'll
give them the first refusal things priority on things you know you like drinks on us other
stuff we can you know make them feel special and want to come back and then generally like
they're doing our market for us.
Their champion customers tell you about how great we are but it's been something we've
been like really worked on from the get go how to get champion customers and how to keep
them.
Oh no no I think you're right it's the same but I have business space on that that's all
we're after really.
Well listen I know you've thanks for your time today you've got some awesome cooking
duro yam so some dishes and stuff but people can get you on Instagram they all on Instagram
anywhere else.
Yeah they all I'll leave to Instagram I'm more current chef at Instagram something like
that.
Yeah there you go there you go awesome.
Well listen mate I love working with you pal like looking forward to working with you
in the future and yeah keep doing you come try Mark's food and yeah cool thank you very
much.
Thank you for joining some of the Chef Life podcast I've been your host Alistair if you'd
like to learn more about our business you can visit us at www.cottagefoodsltd.com give
us a follow and a like on Instagram and we'll see you soon thanks.