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We were delivering veg boxes and stuff like that which was really nice.
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Before opening the takeaway we started a little business using our industry contacts who’d lost all of their restaurant business, helping them to get food out to people at home who couldn’t get to the shops. It’s actually saved a lot of chefs throughout the last year. I think the idea that you don’t have to go out to enjoy great food and you can just do it yourself with help from chefs is a completely new sector of hospitality that’s going to stick around for a long time. I think the ‘do it yourself’ at home meals have probably been the biggest realisation throughout lockdown. They’re naughty burgers, but if you’re going to have a burger you might as well do it properly!ĭo you think the pandemic has changed our approach to food? The biggest issue now is actually to do with staffing - not necessarily just with isolations but I think a lot of people went to different industries out of necessity and just haven’t come back to hospitality after lockdown. Since ‘freedom day’ a lot of restaurants, particularly high-end restaurants, are continuing with precautionary measures like asking people to wear masks. Hopefully the worst is done and we can just get on with it now. Provided we don’t go into another lockdown we shouldn’t face too many problems. What challenges are facing the food industry at the moment? I know for a lot of my mates it’s been a massive adjustment and returning to work has actually been a godsend. This is an industry where we don’t usually get a lot of time to ourselves but we’ve spent a lot of time at home. It’s been a weird year or so for hospitality. It’s been fantastic to see friends and colleagues and everyone back doing what they do. How do you feel about the lifting of restrictions and what it means for restaurants? It’s been a goal since I was a little kid. I was inundated with offers to open restaurants here, there and everywhere - mainly down south around London - but I’ve always wanted to have my own restaurant in Nottingham. I worked in London for seven or eight years, I’ve worked abroad, but you can’t quite beat the feeling of coming home, building something within my own city and just continuing to put Nottingham on the map. It’s my home and it’s where my family and friends are. What does living and working in the city mean to you? You’ve decided to stick to your roots here in Notts. It’s been a goal since I was a little kid I’ve always wanted to have my own restaurant in Nottingham. It’s all been a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to just get open and get cooking. We’ve done everything from scratch, from looking at the building to designing all my own kitchens and planning the restaurant with the interior designers. It’s been the best part of two years trying to keep it a massive secret which is a tough task! It’s going to be a brand new build which is amazing. It’s going to be in Nottingham but I can’t tell you where it is yet - hopefully I can reveal it soon. What more can you tell us about your shop that’s opening next year? They’re naughty burgers, but if you’re going to have a burger you might as well do it properly! It’s been a fun little lockdown project that we’re trying to keep going and build into a brand. It’s a different take on a takeaway burger - more of a restaurant style. The butchers prepare it all and then my chefs and I make everything from scratch, from the bread to the cheese and sauces. We get all our meat from within five or six miles from farms that Johnny uses. I’ve always loved a takeaway burger so I spoke to Johnny who had a spare kitchen lying empty in what was formerly his bistro, so we saw the opportunity to do something. It was born out of necessity during lockdown when we had no work on. It’s all been a really interesting journey. We were making some headway with that before COVID and then the plans had to get scrapped, unfortunately - but luckily the restaurant will be opening at the beginning of next year. But the main goal since winning has been to open my own restaurant. I’ve done a lot of private events and catering events, and I recently started The Snobby Burger with my friend Johnny Pusztai as a little lockdown project.
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I started off getting some really cool opportunities to go and cook in cool places for cool people. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind really. What have you been up to since winning Masterchef in 2018? How did it change your career?