Had an absolutely INSANE few weeks.
First thing going down, and possibly the biggest - Laura, has been given a work opportunity in London which is obviously far away from Leeds. She's had long term passion for the fashion industry and was working towards this when she met me, since then she's quit all that to follow me on my merry adventures and then when I took the restaurant over again she took over the running of our poker site. It's all been lovely and we have done just fine financially but it's always a big concern that when someone has to make more sacrifices than the other in a relationship then an underlying level of resentment will build up, it's true to say that financially we've done the best things (we've have not made NET as much combined money any other way) but then that's like saying that money is more important than her dreams, which would be horrible. Obviously I've been able to do what i like doing in the midst of all this so whereas I might have worked really hard I've sacrificed pretty much 0 whilst she's given up lots (she actually wasn't a huge fan of me taking the restaurant on but I did it anyway.)
So this puts a bit of a dilemma on the table for us, leaving really only 3 options;
1) We move to london together - I leave a controlling position in the restaurant and just retain my shares.
2) Laura doesn't take the oppurtunity
3) She moves to london without me, we take house in Richmond keep our place in Leeds and I hop-foot it down to LND at any chance
None of these 3 stand out as particularly appealing. I feel like it would be dreadful of me to even suggest #2 after all she done, I don't want to leave my business in Leeds so i guess option 3. IDK if anyone has any advice for me? I feel like, pretty young no commitments these days are about following dreams and doing what you want to do, seems to me like it's so easy to make excuses and find reason after reason for not doing something when really should only be 1 question;
Do I want it? Yes = GO, No = DON'T GO.
Restaurant has been doing OK, emphasis hasn't really been on trade lately (sounds ridiculous) but we've reached a point now where on current advertising levels and staff costs we can consistently take enough money week on week to wipe our feet, cover a little old debt and have a few quid left over to put towards the next stage, focus lately has been all about the kitchen.
The last EHO visit we only got 4/5 stars for the most infuriating reason, we had disgusting shelving in the dry store, about 20 yrs old and basically falling to pieces/close to rotting, obv you can never have 5* when you have that and i was pretty dam furious at myself for not sorting it quicker. I've since had the dry store completely refurbished and it's slick as anything now, dedicated chemicals area, wall mounted stuff, lots of health and safety stuff laminated and on the walls, like a proper job
.
I need to replace a few pieces of kitchen equipment when i can organise the finance and we have our new menu launching this coming week. NEw menu has taken a month of pretty much solid work to get organised and had plenty of training sessions with the kitchen guys, absolutely brain-warping what problems crop up you'd have no idea... MY new kitchen manager also started and so far his enthusiasm for the job has been refreshing, once again i'm putting my faith into someone younger, around 26~ but has run a kirchen taking similar money before and his organisation and eye for detail are, so i'm told, particularly good which is exactly what i'm looking for, so it would appear that i'm on the right track!!
We had an Elvis night last week which was awesome;
| Click to see full-size image. |
The man had the most fascinating hips you've ever seen!!!
There's been a real shift in customer profile over the past 2 months which has been really pleasing, although it has lead to a reduction in the actual amount of customers we're getting in the restaurant...spend per head now exceeding £14.00 which officially makes it double what it was when i took over, and the prices are about to go up a little too. Starting to build some real momentum on social media and planning some more advertising campaigns too with local advertisers so we'll see how we get on!
Currently in Tenerife on a quick week away, hotel i've ended up at is kinda horrible, its absolutely awful by the pool - yesterday something happened which i thought was just insane IDK what everything thinks but i was fuming...
You have to hire parasols at the pool (fine) but we didnt know this at first, so we sat next to a parasol and put it up, a scottish lady was sunbathing next to us and wasnt touched by the shade she woke up, told us that you have to hire the umbrellas and she had hired this one, then she took it back and came back to sunbathe, so she went through all the effort of taking it back just so we couldn't use it... Long happy life filled with people who love her ahead for that lady i'm sure, me 100 times from 100 i'd say "btw you have to hire parasols but you can use this one but ight have to move it towards me if i want some shade in a bit" and i'd like to hope virtually everyone I like in the world would do the same.
I feel like the worlds biggest snob but usually stay in better hotels and don't seem to get antics like this i've seen round the pool, it cost £125 for the week (through my mum's RCI) and I think you just have to accept what you pay for is what you get, beds are so uncomfortable too hard to actually sleep, going to move hotels tomorrow somewhere really nice.
Did have a pretty hilarious moment last night though, we were playing bingo (not something you would have expected in this blog 4 years unless there was somehow some insane sidebets on it) was actually waiting for the magic show (a real banging saturday night!!) the winner of the bingo was a ~8/10 yr old girl, who went on stage to collect her prize, a massage at the spa, just as she leaves the stage the bingo host (a huge black guy) gives her these words of wisdom...
"Remember - NO MEANS NO"
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