Brunch Box is the one that made me an owner, a director and the entire management team, all at once. It was my own venue and my own business, and for the first time I was fully accountable for every decision. Through some very difficult days and weeks, I outperformed everything in my working history, and I will be forever proud of what we built.
This Was New
I had years of experience managing bars and restaurants, training teams and supporting venue openings, and I still wasn’t prepared for how many hats I would be wearing. There was no other management, no kitchen team, and nobody else to bring ideas or put operations in place. My brain darted from one thing to the next all day.
The business before me hadn’t been run to the standard I wanted, with no food hygiene systems or house rules, so I couldn’t follow what had gone before. I had to build it properly myself, and there were areas that weren’t even on my radar, like fire risk assessments and music licences.
Rotas, Wages and Real Money
The rota was my first real challenge. After years of keeping hours tight in other people’s businesses, I was suddenly worried about wages for the first time, because the money was coming out of my own business and I had to afford to pay everyone. I didn’t want to be caught short and give customers a bad first impression, and I had high hopes of being busier than the previous business with all the improvements I was making. Every hour on that rota was now my money, and that changed how I looked at all of it.
From Front of House to the Kitchen
My background was front of house, and here I was running a sandwich bar and café where food preparation and cooking were now part of my role. I also had to train every member of staff to be a catering assistant as well as a server.
I was anxious about the food itself, especially the hugely popular bacon rolls and black pudding and egg. Hospitality is my life, and I wanted every customer to be happy with what they received.
The Jobs Nobody Sees
In most businesses, kitchen teams quietly carry a lot of responsibility that you don’t notice until it lands on you: food deliveries, all the food hygiene documentation, and making sure staff are food hygiene certified before they start.
Deliveries were a good example. The driver is often standing over you, waiting for you to say everything is fine. Take the time anyway. Say “wait a minute”, check everything, and check the temperature of the van. Once you’ve signed for it, it’s yours.
Letting Go of Perfect
As a perfectionist, I wanted a quality product and great service. I had planned to do all the baking and make every “homemade” sandwich filling myself, and I had to accept that I was only one person. It wasn’t possible, especially for opening week.
I found a great quality cake supplier who fully stocked the deli counter in the beginning. As I grew the baking side of the business, I became the main baker and the supplier became the top-up. I did something similar with the coronation and tikka mayos. I tried premade ones, made up fresh with chicken daily, and people loved them. So why was I stressing?
Keeping a Team Together
For almost the whole six years I had around three main staff members, and a couple more stayed with me for over two years each. Beyond that, turnover was fairly high for such a small team. Each time meant advertising, recruiting, hiring and training, and people left for all sorts of reasons: they hadn’t realised how long they’d be on their feet, or that they’d be serving customers on their first shifts, or they had exams, or their dream job came up, or they didn’t pass their probation.
Staff illness is part of any business, and everyone is entitled to be sick. In a food business it matters more than anywhere that people stay away when unwell, though I’ll admit to a long internal sigh each time. The hardest times were when someone didn’t turn up for a morning shift, and when two different team members were off for months.
What got us through was a flexible rota, enough people I could ask to cover, and a team who mucked in. Because we treated each other well, we knew how to double down and get through a shift even when we were short. That’s not to say there weren’t times I wanted to scream, but I like to think it was handled well, by me and by the team.
When Everything Stopped
We opened the doors in September 2017. By February and March 2020, sales had grown to levels we could only have dreamed of at the start, with a steady queue out the door. Then, at the end of March 2020, we closed, and it was devastating. We had worked so hard, and it was ripped away.
We took the hospitality grants and furlough pay for the staff and rode out the storm. We didn’t jump back in too quickly, and we kept the furlough going for as long as necessary, which saved us. We had to reopen more than once, with PPE, signage and new working practices each time. For a business that prioritised hygiene and systems, we adapted well.
When Things Broke
Equipment breakdowns are always stressful, especially when all you can see is pound signs leaving the business bank account. I kept a list of suppliers and maintenance contacts to hand, and stayed on top of PAT testing and servicing to avoid disasters where I could.
The biggest one came when the coffee machine leaked and the water evaporated to the ceiling and then fell again. We thought it was a leak from upstairs, so it took some investigating while there was water everywhere. Closing is hard for a small business, but we had built such a loyal customer base that they were out in force when we reopened.
What I Learned
Being adaptable was key. As the owner, I stayed as hands-on as I could to lead my team and build good foundations: structured opening procedures, stock handling, a clear order of service. Constant communication with the team made all the difference. Without it, we wouldn’t have had the success we did.
I also learned to adapt to what customers wanted, as long as it made business sense, rather than clinging to what I’d originally planned when it wasn’t working (within reason, as everyone around you will have an opinion). Through all of it, I made sure the culture and standards stayed exactly as I’d always intended.
Looking Back
Brunch Box was a thriving business and became part of the community. It was a destination. People didn’t just pop in because they were passing; they planned their day around lunchtime in Penicuik, and some drove in from the countryside to visit. We were known for good coffee, the best nachos, plenty of great panini and baguette fillings, phenomenal salad bowls and the best hot filled rolls around, and our Empire biscuits and brownies became legendary. People came back because we were friendly, had personality, and worked efficiently and hygienically.
I will be forever proud of what the team and I achieved. If you’re about to take on all the hats yourself, I’ve been there, and you don’t have to do it alone.
