S T A R T E R S
ANGUS We’re the youngest of four brothers, and there are 18 months between us. Our parents moved to Devon when I was five and set up a smallholding. That’s where our love of food comes in, because we had pigs, sheep, ducks, trout, koi carp, bantams and a huge vegetable garden. It was a really good grounding in the food industry, because we saw the pigs go off to slaughter, then they’d come back and we’d joint them up on the kitchen table. Our parents also instilled in us a strong work ethic. We were always roped into building a barn or doing odd jobs around the farm. Joe and I have always been close. Our first love was music and we were in a band together. I played drums and Joe was the singer and guitarist. To make ends meet, we both worked in The Drewe Arms in Broadhembury. I was in the kitchen and Joe was front of house. It was a really popular pub and always busy. The head chef "OUR FIRST there was Swedish. She was really LOVE WAS gregarious and full of life, but MUSIC AND also volatile at times. She cooked WE WERE in the style of her mother and IN A BAND grandmother before her; ancient TOGETHER" Swedish recipes, fresh seafood, pickled veg and fresh herbs. People absolutely loved it. After seven years, Joe and I decided to make the move to London. We were still in our band and wanted to make a go of it. Unfortunately, working in hospitality doesn’t leave much time for gigs! I ended up working at The Chop House at Tower Bridge and a few other places, before heading to the south of France. Joe, meanwhile, went travelling. When he got back we decided to move back to Devon – we’re country boys at heart! We had our own catering business for a while, but it was a full-on operation; catering for music festivals and weddings all over the South West. We opened The Holt in 2005 with the Otter Brewery, then became independent in 2008. It was a tricky time as it was the recession, the smoking ban had recently come in, and more people were drinking at home – but we persevered, and worked hard at building up the food side of the business. Today we have the pub, a café on the high street called Toast and a growing cookery school. I head up the kitchen and manage the food side of things, while Joe keeps everything ticking front of house and on the management side. I can’t imagine doing it without Joe. He’s brilliant front of house and has a knack at being able to read a service and anticipate what our customers want. Yes, it’s not all roses and there can be tricky points, but as long as he realises I’m right, everything is fine!
JOE The pub and restaurant trade is tough, but Angus and I both have a passion for it. We also take a real pride in what we do – we want to deliver the best. Growing up, our parents taught us the importance of working together. Even on family holidays they’d divide the chores up between us four boys. Running a pub restaurant business is hard work, but we both get a buzz off it, especially when it’s busy. I’ve travelled extensively and have worked front of house in numerous places, so I learned lots of tricks of the trade. I believe in organic training in order to empower our staff with the passion and knowledge that we both share. Angus is a really great chef and the food "WE TAKE A is amazing, but service is just as important. It doesn’t matter REAL PRIDE how great the food is – if your waiting staff are inattentive or IN WHAT rude, you won’t have a good experience. WE DO – In recent years, we’ve expanded the business and now WE WANT Angus runs the cooking school. He really enjoys the teaching TO DELIVER side of the business – passing on his skills and giving people THE BEST" the confidence to be more experimental with their cooking. Now we’re both in our 40s, we’re enjoying our work but also trying to make time for life, too. Both of our wives are involved in the business and we have young children, so we’re always busy. We take pride in ensuring that all of our staff, both front of house and in the kitchen, are trained well and treated with respect. This is a notoriously difficult industry, so it’s important that we all look out for each other and, as long as they realise that I’m right, everything is fine! theholt-honiton.com
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