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JEREMYS RESTAURANT
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Turnaround to Takeaway Jeremy Ashpool, chef proprietor of Jeremy’s Restaurant at Borde Hill, tells of the pivotal moment the business had to adapt quickly if it was to survive in the wake of Coronavirus and the stay-at-home policy.
One of the first priorities was to offer calm, positive advice to employees and give assurances that the company would do all that it could to ensure their welfare.
“We then looked at how we could diversify. We began the process of evaluating what takeaway services we might be able to provide from both Jeremy’s and our next-door Café Elvira,” says Jeremy.
Led by head chef Jimmy Gray and Maria, a collaborative takeaway menu offering favourites from Jeremy’s and Café Elvira was created, featuring a range of popular, tasty and nutritious dishes that could be easily served at home, ingredients and allergen information and instructions on how to collect safely from the premises.
“The feedback to what we were doing, and what we were offering was and continues to be, truly heart-warming. We were also receiving messages from lovely customers sadly too far away from us to order, but encouraging us to keep going with our new venture,” adds Jeremy.
Requests also started to come in for more ‘Jeremy-style’ dishes so the team produced a ‘Fine Dining at Home’ menu which offered a variety of options together with a change to the Café’s menu too, to include Vera’s famous and delicious sweet and savoury tarts. The new menu has just launched, including Sunday roasts.
This menu, currently featuring South Coast lobster as one of the starters as well as a range of vegetarian
“5 stars. We had a superb takeaway dinner from Jeremy’s for a family birthday dinner party during lockdown. It was so delicious. Easy to follow reheating instructions; good sized portions and the best way to celebrate a special occasion during this period. We will definitely be ordering again. The food was wonderful and all organised, so no contact on collection.”
Customer Testimonial
options as starters and mains, and the Café’s famous shortcrust Dexter beef pie, is available for collection between 3pm and 6pm on Wednesdays and between 11am and 5pm Thursdays to Sundays. Matt, the restaurant’s front of house manager, has been working hard, in charge of logistics and ensuring customers can collect their orders in a safe environment.
“As the glorious spring weather continues to mitigate, to some extent, the anxiety of these troubled times, we continue to find new ways to extend the Jeremy’s and Café Elvira experience into the community and to our loyal friends and customers. We will carry on and hopefully, as one guest said, “Being a small ray of light in these dark times,” concludes Jeremy.
Dishes can be ordered with a minimum of 48 hours notice. Please call 01444 441102, or for orders after 5pm please email reservations@jeremysrestaurant.com. Menus can be viewed at www.jeremysrestaurant. co.uk Jeremy’s Restaurant, Borde Hill, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1XP
NatWest Accelerator Entrepreneur of the Month – May 2020
Rachael Swann, Founder of Synergy Dance®
Tell us about yourself Synergy Dance® is a dance, yoga & fitness programme for children and teens in schools & leisure centres. We deliver innovative dance & Yoga courses, school clubs, classes, workshops, dance parties, CPD training for schools, all day holiday camps and Special Needs & Disability programmes. We are here to promote physical and mental health and well-being through accessible and innovative activities for children and adults, people experiencing disadvantage and those with SEND, to meet local needs and get people active. The adoption rate of our services has been high and we are expanding within the Freedom Leisure chain, launching in another five Sussex venues post C-19. Our traction includes 16 leisure centres, 10 outreach centres, outsourcing to two National Sports Franchises, Care Homes and 32 partnerships and collaborations.
We have reached 10,524 children in the last year creating positive impact and resilience to challenges. Foundation for Surrey, The Charles Hayward Trust, the Henry Smith charity, Awards for All and Active Surrey are all supporting specific projects within our charitable arm, Synergy Dance Outreach.
Covid-19 Covid 19 has been by far the biggest challenge so far. In the face of complete loss of revenue – I knew I had to pivot the business. I was also driven by three aims: 1) To support everyone at home to keep fit and active – both those we already supply and a wider audience nationally. 2) Social responsibility to the team - The new projects have given our team of talent sustained work. 3) To be a force for good - people are anxious and need structure - #DanceAtHome and #YogaAtHome can potentially go out globally - to reach all who are isolated, anxious and in need of fun activities.
What tips or advice would you share with other Entrepreneurs ? Just get started and put it out there – don’t delay if you have a great idea.
My biggest advice is to always “Keep going”. There will be a lot of obstacles when you start up a business but passion, focus and self-belief will carry you through.
Avoid trying to do everything yourself, once you are past the early stages of starting up– this leads to burnout, lack of vision and lack of growth. By delegating to experts in their field, the business becomes robust. A company culture is driven by the team – I look for talent, dedication and loyalty – in return, we will all benefit as Synergy expands and reaches more people.
To grow your business – hire a manager if you can – so they can run the ship while you focus on strategy and growth. If you are working “in the business”, you cannot realistically take it to the next level.
Don’t obsess over the competition, even when they copy(!) and concentrate on outstepping them by being innovative and focussed on what you can achieve with your team.
Synergy has created a virtual online platform, synergy-dance-online. teachable.com, delivering Dance, Yoga & Meditation activities for children, teens & adults, with activities for mainstream, Special Needs & Disabilities, the elderly and the Visually impaired/Blind community. They are reaching all who can benefit in the UK and abroad. The new audio clips are being shared with new partners British Blind Sport and are reaching visually impaired groups as far as New Zealand. #KeepGoing #KeepActive #KeepConnected #DanceAtHome #YogaAtHome
To donate to virtual Synergy or for more info go to http://synergydance.co.uk
Each month the leadership team at Brighton’s NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator select a founder of the month to recognise the individuals that have demonstrated a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to overcome challenges and accelerate the growth of their business in a short space of time. To find out more about the Accelerator hub, email BrightonAccelerator@natwest.com
Home Invaders
Unwanted visitors can trigger mental health issues during lockdown, says Paul Bates, Managing Director Cleankill Pest Control
Working from home and spending more time at home generally has become the reality of the lockdown for many.
For Cleankill Pest Control this has resulted in an increase in calls from residential premises as people are spotting furry intruders and insects that would often go unnoticed.
Cleankill Managing Director Paul Bates says the mental health implications of having an infestation during lockdown when you can’t leave your home can be quite serious for some and affect the ability to focus on work.
He explains: “It’s bad enough having a pest problem during normal times, but usually people can get out of the house or go off to work and can escape the problem. The lockdown has resulted in an increase in calls from residential premises to Cleankill as people are spotting furry intruders and insects that would often go unnoticed.
“Hearing constant scratching or pests running about in your roof space is really stressful along with the worry of not knowing what damage they are doing and whether they are gnawing through cables. Rats are also appearing in people’s gardens especially in urban properties as there is less food being discarded in the streets. This means the rats are having to explore new territories to find food.”
As well as rodents, people have been calling about clothes moths which they might not otherwise have spotted if they weren’t in their homes 24 hours a day. People are also finding time to tidy cupboards and loft spaces and uncovering textile moth problems that have been hidden.
It’s also the time when pigeons and gulls are starting to arrive and nest on balconies or enter roof- spac - es, presenting a health risk to residents who are forced to spend more time in their own outside spaces during lockdown.
Squirrels are starting to breed and are expert at gnawing through soffits and fascias and accessing lofts where they will nest while potentially damaging wiring and rafters.
There has been an increase in calls about stored products infestations as people try to use up old ingredients at the back of cupboards, or sort through packets of dried goods only to be horrified to find the contents inside moving on its own.
Cleankill recommends using a professional pest control company to tackle problems particularly where rats, mice, birds or squirrels are concerned.
“Rats and squirrels can be quite aggressive and getting rid of the creatures requires a lot of knowledge and expertise. A trained professional should be able to get rid of the problem safely, humanely and quickly. But if you buy off the shelf products it is hard to know without training the correct dosage or the best location to use them in. You could also endanger children, pets and wildlife. It’s also more likely that the problem will return and cause further stress,” Paul said.
