of his time will still be spent at Alimentum.
“It’s my baby and I’ll still be cooking there five days a week,” he tells us. “Alimentum will always be my number one.”
On average, Mark will be spending about 20 hours a week at The White Horse. He explains that he will mainly be there as and when he is needed. However, as the restaurants are only a twenty-minute drive from one another, Mark can easily get to The White Horse if any problems were to occur.
Unlike Alimentum, Mark states that he definitely won’t be looking for a Michelin star at The White Horse. “As the restaurant is both inside and outside, we want it to be based more for families. They’ll be a bouncy castle outside for children and we’ll probably be having live music events over the summer, like mini festivals. It will have a very relaxed dining atmosphere,” he explains.
When asked what advice he would give to upcoming chefs who are looking to open their own restaurant he says: “Make sure you do your research. Research on what style of food you want to serve, who you want to serve it to, what your customer base is and how much your average spend is going to be.”
He also advises that it is never a good idea to rush straight into things and that a clear, long term business plan is extremely important if you want to succeed.
Once The White Horse is up and running, Mark will be concentrating on this business for the time being.
“If this works, then we would rather replicate something like The White Horse than something like Alimentum,” he said. “Who knows what the future might hold!”
By Alice Lewis
