Not dwelling on the lows James believes that now being part of local community has been one of the highs for him. He said: “People coming to see what you’re doing and building an amazing team around you. Also just being allowed to get on with doing whatever you want to do rather than being dictated to.”
Being your own boss was the main reason for James Sommerin Restaurant opening and is the part of the job that he enjoys most. He said: “It’s not just the menu, it’s how the dining room feels, just to have a bit of my personality around it all rather than just being a chef working in an establishment is great.”
However James has had a wealth of experience in order to get to this point, starting from the age of 12 in his Dad’s friend’s restaurant. He said: “I worked part time and it was something that I loved, I loved cooking with my grandmother so it started from that really. But as time went on I knew that I didn’t want to do anything else.”
His experience has taken him up and down the country but it’s always been in “stand-alone restaurants.”
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