Hi, I'm sending this from the hospital..... don't worry, I'll be fine.....
I've poisoned myself.
I've eaten what I though was an onion.....
turned out it was a daffodil bulb......
I should be out by the spring.
:)
TTFN
M
Thursday 10 March 2011
Having hard thought-through ideas pinched by a competitor
I know this happens in every single industry, in every civilised country in the world but I absolutely hate having an idea that we have had (and subsequently communicated) pilfered by a competitor!
We might make a new menu addition, or "tweet" about a special for the weekend or send a note out on Facebook to followers about a particular dish we've dreamed up.... then seeing it in all its glory on a competitors menu soon after is a great big pain in the neck.....
Let me tell you.... there is absolutely no room for playing nice in the restaurant trade.......certainly not during a deep recession!
Some of our competitors are so caustic they should have a HACCP sheet permanently attached to their being!!
It toughens one up.... so it does, so it does!!
TTFN
M
We might make a new menu addition, or "tweet" about a special for the weekend or send a note out on Facebook to followers about a particular dish we've dreamed up.... then seeing it in all its glory on a competitors menu soon after is a great big pain in the neck.....
Let me tell you.... there is absolutely no room for playing nice in the restaurant trade.......certainly not during a deep recession!
Some of our competitors are so caustic they should have a HACCP sheet permanently attached to their being!!
It toughens one up.... so it does, so it does!!
TTFN
M
Another little tour....
Have a little look around why don't you.....
This is the view from our lounge.... right over to Longridge Fell.... beautiful and atmospheric in the mist...... early spring 2010.....
and
I promise to get some obligatory food shots for you..... I'm not into going down the professional route as that all seems rather wrong, but I'll try and make them a little interesting.!
TTFN
M
and
I promise to get some obligatory food shots for you..... I'm not into going down the professional route as that all seems rather wrong, but I'll try and make them a little interesting.!
TTFN
M
Are we really that interesting?
"With a name like yours you couldn't possibly have come from common stock".......
"What are you running away from?"
"where did you get your money from to do this place up?"
"we give you three years.... tops"
"where did you get the money from for that new car?"
"why were you closed?"
"if we want to make up a story about you, we will, and you had better get used to it"
"I will bring your business down..... I will never supply you with anything....."
"you're very friendly..... would you consider having sex with me...."
"this is absolutely SNOT... foul disgusting food......disgraceful, horrible"
"is your chef foreign.... he looks foreign"
" we've heard your chef is gay.... if he is no-one will eat here....we'll make sure of it"
Just some snippets of actual comments that immediately spring to mind between 2005-2008...... we call them the stabilising years......
By this time we were still under the radar of the big, well established restaurants in the area..... but this was changing.... our restaurant was regularly full at weekends.... the compliments were coming thick and fast and we were being noted in national press about how we went about our business...... two ordinary people following a dream and making a go of it, serving really tasty, excellent quality food......
..... but we realised that this was upsetting for some folk who really needed to see us fail.... and they continued to hurtle missiles at us.....
But we enjoyed our work and felt confident that what we had was good.....
...... so we cracked on.....and in late 2008 early 2009 we were informed about our insertion into the Michelin Guide.....
We had a little cry!.....
.... and the crazy questions and comments (like above) slowed down........
We still noticed the eyes cast sideways at us; we still heard some great gossip about us and we still had to go about our job of building the business.....
.......we think we're really boring.....
..... others disagree clearly.... and therefore watch us like we are plotting some crazed scheme in the tiny hamlet we live.....
...... quite frankly it all sounds terribly exciting...... but we really couldn't be bothered....
The Life and Times of an Innkeeper makes one rather tired at the end of a busy week to contemplate anything quite so outrageous.....
sorry to disappoint!
We do look back at these "stabilising years" fondly now and are happier to recall some of the funnier comments; leaving the darker stuff for family and friends' conversations!
I'm wondering whether this isn't a little cathartic......
anyway..... I'm off in search of a steak.... it's my night off.....
TTFN
M
"What are you running away from?"
"where did you get your money from to do this place up?"
"we give you three years.... tops"
"where did you get the money from for that new car?"
"why were you closed?"
"if we want to make up a story about you, we will, and you had better get used to it"
"I will bring your business down..... I will never supply you with anything....."
"you're very friendly..... would you consider having sex with me...."
"this is absolutely SNOT... foul disgusting food......disgraceful, horrible"
"is your chef foreign.... he looks foreign"
" we've heard your chef is gay.... if he is no-one will eat here....we'll make sure of it"
Just some snippets of actual comments that immediately spring to mind between 2005-2008...... we call them the stabilising years......
By this time we were still under the radar of the big, well established restaurants in the area..... but this was changing.... our restaurant was regularly full at weekends.... the compliments were coming thick and fast and we were being noted in national press about how we went about our business...... two ordinary people following a dream and making a go of it, serving really tasty, excellent quality food......
..... but we realised that this was upsetting for some folk who really needed to see us fail.... and they continued to hurtle missiles at us.....
But we enjoyed our work and felt confident that what we had was good.....
...... so we cracked on.....and in late 2008 early 2009 we were informed about our insertion into the Michelin Guide.....
We had a little cry!.....
.... and the crazy questions and comments (like above) slowed down........
We still noticed the eyes cast sideways at us; we still heard some great gossip about us and we still had to go about our job of building the business.....
.......we think we're really boring.....
..... others disagree clearly.... and therefore watch us like we are plotting some crazed scheme in the tiny hamlet we live.....
...... quite frankly it all sounds terribly exciting...... but we really couldn't be bothered....
The Life and Times of an Innkeeper makes one rather tired at the end of a busy week to contemplate anything quite so outrageous.....
sorry to disappoint!
We do look back at these "stabilising years" fondly now and are happier to recall some of the funnier comments; leaving the darker stuff for family and friends' conversations!
I'm wondering whether this isn't a little cathartic......
anyway..... I'm off in search of a steak.... it's my night off.....
TTFN
M
The Pure Shock Of This New Life
The cosmopolitan, fast paced world we left..... the suits, executive cars, 4 holidays a year, the courteous taken-for-granted intellect of folk understanding your circumstance enough to allow you to do what you felt was right within your own life so long as you offered the same courtesy to them....was now going to become a thing of the past.
I take you back to 2005.... hurtling rapidly into 2006 (our first full year) and we were still enjoying the niceness of the newness of our new rural life..... the bills hadn't started to come in yet and we didn't think that we would have any problem making ends meet.
But remember we were new to this world.... not just rural life but the hospitality industry of which we were now a bonefide member! This wasn't playtime.... we had invested a mammoth amount of our hard-earned savings into making this business a success.
We came from city life; nipping out to the city shopping, to meet friends, to have parties.... to be invisible.
All of a sudden we were acutely aware we were being watched and it was curious and strange to us and wierd demonstrations of our building paranoia emerged; we really didn't like the negative attention we seemed to be getting.
We've all read the papers and journalistic offerings of rural life being harder than anything you will ever imagine if you are a newcomer..... an incomer.... an outsider.....make that doubly so if you are trying to build a business there.
It was cripplingly difficult..... we missed our friends and family and we were coping with a new way of life, a new business, a new industry to fathom out and the rather startling reality that we had, in 13 years of marriage up to this point, never spent every waking hour (and those asleep) in each others' company!
We aged...... very rapidly.... in that first full year!
But we found our feet..... found a great head chef and got ourselves on the ridiculously competitive foody map in the area!
No bumps so far..... just the difficult adjustment to a different kind of folk was obvious...... we couldn't understand why people were so unfriendly.... bordering on nasty in some instances.... but we lifted our chins and carried on.... we had a job to do... even if it was going to be made a little more difficult than we had initially thought.
I wont dwell on these difficult times in the early days.... or on the difficult people that crossed our paths and made them very bumpy, but they will definitiely pop up from time to time during the blog.....
..... look out for them.... they're certainly interesting enough!!
TTFN
M
I take you back to 2005.... hurtling rapidly into 2006 (our first full year) and we were still enjoying the niceness of the newness of our new rural life..... the bills hadn't started to come in yet and we didn't think that we would have any problem making ends meet.
But remember we were new to this world.... not just rural life but the hospitality industry of which we were now a bonefide member! This wasn't playtime.... we had invested a mammoth amount of our hard-earned savings into making this business a success.
We came from city life; nipping out to the city shopping, to meet friends, to have parties.... to be invisible.
All of a sudden we were acutely aware we were being watched and it was curious and strange to us and wierd demonstrations of our building paranoia emerged; we really didn't like the negative attention we seemed to be getting.
We've all read the papers and journalistic offerings of rural life being harder than anything you will ever imagine if you are a newcomer..... an incomer.... an outsider.....make that doubly so if you are trying to build a business there.
It was cripplingly difficult..... we missed our friends and family and we were coping with a new way of life, a new business, a new industry to fathom out and the rather startling reality that we had, in 13 years of marriage up to this point, never spent every waking hour (and those asleep) in each others' company!
We aged...... very rapidly.... in that first full year!
But we found our feet..... found a great head chef and got ourselves on the ridiculously competitive foody map in the area!
No bumps so far..... just the difficult adjustment to a different kind of folk was obvious...... we couldn't understand why people were so unfriendly.... bordering on nasty in some instances.... but we lifted our chins and carried on.... we had a job to do... even if it was going to be made a little more difficult than we had initially thought.
I wont dwell on these difficult times in the early days.... or on the difficult people that crossed our paths and made them very bumpy, but they will definitiely pop up from time to time during the blog.....
..... look out for them.... they're certainly interesting enough!!
TTFN
M
Room At The Inn Part Two
When we comfortably had the guest rooms completed and functioning....we turned our attentions to other parts of the Inn.
Creating pretty gardens and seating areas for our customers....
And generall creating a really lovely feel to the traditional country inn and restaurant we were creating
Our efforts, blood, sweat and lots of tears continued for the next 2 years as we raised gardens, landscaped, planted & toiled......
..... and then the typical Lancashire weather killed off any hint at us being able to use them as it rained solidly through the next two summers.... giving a tiny respite in its soaking for two weddings we held..... which we thought was jolly thoughtful of Ma Nature!
Needless to say, we're looking forward to a summer in 2011...... otherwise I think we might go mad!
Tata for a bit
M
And generall creating a really lovely feel to the traditional country inn and restaurant we were creating
Our efforts, blood, sweat and lots of tears continued for the next 2 years as we raised gardens, landscaped, planted & toiled......
..... and then the typical Lancashire weather killed off any hint at us being able to use them as it rained solidly through the next two summers.... giving a tiny respite in its soaking for two weddings we held..... which we thought was jolly thoughtful of Ma Nature!
Needless to say, we're looking forward to a summer in 2011...... otherwise I think we might go mad!
Tata for a bit
M
Room At The Inn Part One
In 2006 we took on the enormous task of renovating the three guest rooms for accommodation at the Inn.... they were in a dreadful state and subsequently required us getting in an architect who was familiar with working with Grade II listed buildings and planning the re-build of the rooms to make them fit for letting.
Needless to say as Queen Elizabeth II and Price Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh drove past us one fine May day on their way up to the Whitewell Estate (all Duke of Lancaster land), they gave us a little cheery wave as we proceeded to purge the rooms of their horse-hair plaster walls and demolish the current boundaries in preparation for newly built ones......
You know the way Her Maj must think the whole of her world smells of fresh paint........ as she passed the Inn she must have had a little chuckle to herself as a neat row of hairy-arsed builders with face masks (to prevent the nasty unwitting inhalation of horse-hair plaster dust) gathering under clouds of said dust billowing out through the open windows of the Inn, and giving her a little cheery wave!
6 months later they were ready for the first paying, staying guests and within 3 months we had a 4 star rating as an Inn....which we quickly added the accolade of "Silver Award" for outstanding hospitality.....
The "Inn" part was complete......
A comfortable mix of old and new
A 250 year old listed building with gloriously modern rooms in which to snuggle down into!
Alastair Sawday's eponymous luxury travel guides picked up on us quite quickly; his ethos is for owner-run establishments going the extra mile....and that just about sums us up!
The rooms at our Inn have been in operation now for over 4 years and there isn't a line we haven't heard, a crazy guest we haven't met, an excuse we haven't raised eyebrows at...... it's amazing the level of tolerance you build up as you receive paying guests into your home..... oh yes.... I forgot to mention we live here too!
Speak soon,
M
Needless to say as Queen Elizabeth II and Price Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh drove past us one fine May day on their way up to the Whitewell Estate (all Duke of Lancaster land), they gave us a little cheery wave as we proceeded to purge the rooms of their horse-hair plaster walls and demolish the current boundaries in preparation for newly built ones......
You know the way Her Maj must think the whole of her world smells of fresh paint........ as she passed the Inn she must have had a little chuckle to herself as a neat row of hairy-arsed builders with face masks (to prevent the nasty unwitting inhalation of horse-hair plaster dust) gathering under clouds of said dust billowing out through the open windows of the Inn, and giving her a little cheery wave!
6 months later they were ready for the first paying, staying guests and within 3 months we had a 4 star rating as an Inn....which we quickly added the accolade of "Silver Award" for outstanding hospitality.....
The "Inn" part was complete......
A comfortable mix of old and new
A 250 year old listed building with gloriously modern rooms in which to snuggle down into!
Alastair Sawday's eponymous luxury travel guides picked up on us quite quickly; his ethos is for owner-run establishments going the extra mile....and that just about sums us up!
The rooms at our Inn have been in operation now for over 4 years and there isn't a line we haven't heard, a crazy guest we haven't met, an excuse we haven't raised eyebrows at...... it's amazing the level of tolerance you build up as you receive paying guests into your home..... oh yes.... I forgot to mention we live here too!
Speak soon,
M
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