Profitable ending for £70,000 kitchen refit
Large investments for small businesses are always a problem. Can we afford it, do we need it, will it give us a return and can we raise the money?
These are thoughts we tend to procrastinate about for months, sometimes years, before coming to a decision. Sometimes we never come to that decision.
In recent months we have made investment decisions of considerable importance, and it would appear that having talked around and about them for years "the doing of it" has really paid off.
Kitchen equipment
The first decision was about the kitchen. Like most catering establishments in this country, our kitchen and its equipment consisted of a pot pourri of pieces, antique and modern, working and broken.
They have been collected together over the years and often the oldest and simplest seemed to be the most reliable.
Invariably the newest broke down the most, as though with minds of their own, at weekends, bank holidays or Christmas when those services which support our industry are suspended!
I have had new ovens where the doors have dropped off within weeks, grills where the elements burnt out, state-of-the-art halogen solid tops that had to be rewired within months (and every 18 months thereafter) and every cook's nightmare, the constantly failing thermostat.
I have had fridges that run hot and hot cupboards that run cold. I have had drawers that drop out and castors that fall off, all within weeks of purchase.
I now keep a constant stock of thermocouples to supply the engineers who arrive and tell me they do not have one on their van. For 11 years we bumbled through, producing amazing food out of one of the hottest and ill-equipped kitchens in Christendom.
In the end, I couldn't face another summer. I remembered those glorious, sparkling, well-fitted, bespoke kitchens I had seen in the Michelin-starred restaurants of France and I wanted one.
I wanted one above everything else!
"What kind of a return will you get?" my bank manager asked. "None," said I. "It has to be done."
Over the years I have purchased from virtually every British equipment manufacturer and I am heartily disillusioned.
Recommendations
I remembered once asking the great Albert Roux where he would go for a kitchen range that would not break down. Those merry eyes behind the half glasses suddenly became serious- he uttered one word: "France".
Terry Laybourne and Paul Heathcote told me there was only one company - Bonnet. We made enquiries in the middle of October, designed the kitchen and got the quotation in November. It was built and shipped from Lyon by the second week of January. Bonnet's English fitters had it installed and connected by the beginning of the third week.
No British manufacturer would consider delivery before April. Looking back, it was a near miracle. We closed the kitchen for two weeks, knocked two rooms into one, lowered one floor and raised another, installed new walls, floors and ceiling, an island plinth, and new ventilation.
We had new work surfaces, sinks, counter-top fridges and, taking pride of place in central position, the most wonderful island-sited range I have ever seen. The finished David could not have been more beautiful to Michelangelo than my Bonnet kitchen appeared to me.
Success on a plate
The complete kitchen redevelopment cost £70,000, a massive investment for a small country pub, but, in the past three months we have seen a financial return. We have been busier than ever before, with record months in July and August.
The bar-brasserie has increased its business by 15%. With the old kitchen, when we were very busy we had to stop taking orders. Now we don't, we cope with so much more.
Food comes out 20% quicker and we are turning the tables around faster and taking more customers. We are cooking under less pressure so the quality has improved.
The equipment allows us to produce with much greater flair, so the food is more exciting.
Major investment, even in kitchens, really can pay off. I wish I'd done it years ago.
More about the second investment later!
