came out of that was that people started offering us their restaurants, their sites or their properties that might not have necessarily been on the market.”
Fix a deadline – and stick to it
Whilst in an ideal world, the chef said, you would take your time and spend a long time over soft openings and getting it right, "sometimes you have to put a deadline on it," because every day you're not open is money spent you're not making back.
Prepare for a long to-do list
From speaking to the council, to suppliers, organising insurance and recruiting his team of forty-plus, the chef said: "The tick list we had was just ridiculous."
In the first few days, the chef said he can't remember finishing before 3am - or starting after 6am.
"After about four nights of doing it I was sat outside - in fact I was laid down on the street outside the restaurant - looking up and thinking: ' what have we done.'"
Having one restaurant helps to get a second one
Though you might expect that it would make things more stressful, Tommy said having The Black Swan came in handy, as it meant they could employ most of the staff for Roots and train them up.
“I think we doubled the population of Oldstead - it's only a tiny village - we had so many staff it was like ridiculous," he laughed.
Invest in your people
Whereas most restaurants tend to turn over a lot of staff within the first months of opening, Tommy is a firm believer in giving new recruits a fair crack of the whip.
"I think it's just as hard for the staff when you open your restaurant as it is for you,” he said.
"Certainly there's a few times I was like 'oh God, I just don't know, I think we've bitten off more than we can chew' and you haven't, you just need to get yourself established."
