Being a small business owner is about being accountable to yourself. Instead of working and dedicating yourself to someone else's vision you are responsible for delivering on your own. The challenge is set by your own expectations and standards. Honestly, I think I became a small business owner because I have some issues with authority, I am easily bored in traditional work environments and I'm a little bit crazy. Also, a lot of people encouraged me to and I didn't want to let them down. 

How has the last 18 months Impacted and disrupted your business/industry, and how have you responded? 

During the last 18 months restrictions kept restaurants from fully opening for 415 days. We basically did every possible thing we could think of to survive. We did meal kits, we opened an online pantry to provide our suppliers with direct access to our clients, we made the street in front of the restaurant into a fully loaded Christmas market including many DIY items made by the staff and ownership, we made 4,000 brownies for London hospitals. It's been a year and a half of survival and last-ditch efforts to keep the lights on. Now we have three businesses with 20 staff members. 

Be the kind of person you would want to work with. Always set up the people you are working with in the best way for them to succeed. This comes from working on the line in the kitchen and going to reach for something and finding out the guy from yesterday didn't make it or made it poorly. You have to trust and rely on others and the best way to ensure you get good teammates is to be one. Always be willing to do the worst job. Demonstrate that you are willing to do what needs to be done in your business. This will inspire your staff to care, have dignity and respect for every position. Get in the dish pit, scrub the toilets, take out the trash and empathize with your crew. 

What opportunities do you see ahead?

With all of the changes and sacrifices we have had to make to stay alive during the pandemic I am looking forward to narrowing my particular focus back to the parts of the business that bring me the most joy. I am looking forward to getting into the kitchen and being creative as mush as possible. I have an incredible team of managers that are nerds about their individual specialties whether that is pastry, coffee, wine, or social media marketing. I'm looking forward to letting them do their thing in their fields and enjoying my own. I think there is a ton of opportunity downtown in the next few years with the high rises being built and so many big city dwellers migrating to London. I would like to expand in the long term but for right now I could just use a vacation.