Mark Poynton, Alimentum, Cambridge

provided a supportive and professional framework for me to develop these skills and gain the knowledge. That is very true, a lot of Chefs become Head Chefs because they are good cooks and then they have to learn to run and manage a business - it's not an easy transition. Yes, it's a massive thing. If someone could sit you down and say "You are a really good cook but you need to learn to manage the books", then more people might be better equipped to make that move. What has been your greatest success within your role, let's say since you came here? I want to say about the Good Food Guide! Yes, well done 6/10 is an excellent score Apart from this year's good food guide, for me, the biggest achievement is just keeping the business profitable and actually making money whilst still keeping customers happy. What have you done differently, then? What's put you into credit? We buy more responsibly; everything we do we look for the best price; we look at different suppliers. OK. ......without changing the quality. I have got to ask then, why were you not doing that before? We've had to be sensible about the ethical considerations that were driving the business in the early days. The were commendable and you don't win an RSPCA Good Business Award just by paying lip service to animal welfare matters, but the procurement side of that was causing a real problem commercially. Right. You can't have an organic accreditation for everything and still hit a good GP with the affordable menu prices that we have. It's a difficult circle to square! No. Buying a whole carcass or half a carcass, takes more time to prepare and you need more chefs, which means the wage bill goes up. We actually have a greater need to get more bums on seats and given our slightly out of centre location in Cambridge we have to market the value for money proposition and great food angle ahead of ethical consumerism.. What has been your biggest frustration since becoming Chef/Patron? Educating leisure and business diners in Cambridge that dining at Alimentum is a fabulous experience - the food, the service, the cost: we are doing something totally different in the locality and when I hear about people paying similar or more for rubbish food in theme restaurants it is so disappointing to think we could have given them a much better experience for less. The foodies love us but we need to reach out to wider audiences and so we market the restaurant hard to achieve that. We're getting there! OK, now as Chef/Patron, and even as Head Chef, how important is it, to you, having a good team in place? It's vital, there is nothing more important than your team. Without a good team you're not going to send out good food; you're not going to give good service and your customers are not going to be happy; and you are not going to make money. OK, and last, but by no means least ... you are now Chef/Patron; you have your name above the door - congratulations. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? In 5 years - Alimentum in Cambridge will be very successful. We have some plans to take the brand into different formats too but I cannot say much about that now. Plans to roll it out? We would like to open maybe one or two more in similar sort of areas because we know this works. As soon as we start to see a profit, we can use this as a model. Mark, you have been an absolute star. Thank you very much. If you want to follow in Mark's footsteps, check out our jobs board for current head chef vacancies.