Web bites
Lucy Warrick, 34, launched Internet takeaway service Easybite a year ago from the kitchens of the Edge on Soho Square in London.
I live alone and get up at 5am. After a quick bath, I jump on my moped, which my friends call a hairdryer on wheels, and head into Soho from Bethnal Green. I'm in for 6am and then I start prepping all the food for the day.
Easybite offers a take-away sandwich and light lunch service, with orders coming in by phone and on the Internet. I was working as chef for the Edge bar in central London when I decided I wanted to strike out on my own. I did a deal with the Edge's owners to use the premises and do food for their customers as well.
My brother Simon helped me financially to set up Easybite and he created the Web site for me. We do food all day and, during the summer, we delivered to the park in Soho Square. Customers called up their orders, told us what part of the park they were in and we'd go out in Easybite T-shirts, calling their name. It's been great for business as, now that it's colder, they want us to deliver to their desks.
We only deliver to the Soho Square area, but there's lots of media companies in the area and we've picked up business.
There's four of us running the business, and the others usually get in at 9 or 10am, depending on what else we have on. Most of the lunch orders come in around 11.30am, and carry through till 1pm. Then, lunch at the Edge kicks off. There are four floors with about 200 covers in total. About a third of our revenue comes from the restaurant, with the rest from Easybite's activities.
Around 2pm, I'll scoff down any mistakes we've made during lunch, which doesn't happen that often.
The afternoon will be spent preparing the food for the evening. I launched with the idea that Easybite would also offer some outside catering, and although the idea I initially had of a home chef hasn't taken off as we'd hoped, our canap‚ deliveries have.
We do about 12 orders a week and again, because of our location, lots of our clients are PR companies and media-related, and we had a couple of articles in newspapers which has helped, too.
Orders come in all the time on the Internet, and our only cutoff is they must be in by 6pm for the next evening. I often deliver the canap‚s myself, if it's within a 10-mile radius, because I can fit the cool bag on my moped.
There have been a couple of takers for the home chef service. All the food is prepped here, then the chef takes it round and cooks it in someone's home for a dinner party.
Early evening, I try to have a glass of wine to unwind, once the Easybite part of the day is finished. If I haven't managed it before, this is when I find time to do the sales reports, ordering and office work, like working out how much to pay the VAT man.
Because it's such a young business, right now I'm just working, working, working to make it all happen. I allow myself to have Sundays off, but that's mostly for doing my housework and sleeping.
Easybite operates its lunchtime trade from Monday to Friday, but we still have functions at the weekend such as the BBQ and the home chef concepts.
While the Web is really our shop front, we'd still like to have an actual shop, something to hang the Easybite name over.
But that's for the future. For now, when the day is done, I grab a salad or snack to take home, and I go to bed as early as I can.
Easybite
The Edge
11 Soho Square, London W1
Tel: 020 7434 0506
Services: lunches at the Edge, takeway sandwiches and outside catering
Owners: Lucy and Simon Warrick
Covers at the Edge: 200
Average spend: Easybite lunch trade, £4.60; Edge, £6.20
Home chef service: £35-£50 per head, minimum four people, plus £65 for chef
Just a minute…
What was the last film you saw?Bridget Jones's Diary.
What is your greatest challenge? Making it through the first year and still being able to pay the bills.
What's your favourite restaurant? The Blue Elephant, Fulham.
What would your last supper be? Thai, or fish and chips.
Who would you invite to dinner? Audrey Hepburn for the star quality, Sean Connery as the sexy older man, and Meatloaf because I've always loved his music.
interview by Sara Guild
