Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: Aussie Mick on March 20, 2012, 02:09 PM
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Just wondered if any of you have ever considered going into business in a restaurant or takeaway?
There are some very knowledgable and helpful people on this form, and just like Julian at Curry2go, I'm sure some of you would have a great chance at making a success of things.
So, anyone got any aspirations of hitting the big time in curry land? :)
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Just wondered if any of you have ever considered going into business in a restaurant or takeaway?
There are some very knowledgable and helpful people on this form, and just like Julian at Curry2go, I'm sure some of you would have a great chance at making a success of things.
So, anyone got any aspirations of hitting the big time in curry land? :)
I have thought about it a lot, and have often discussed it with my equally curry obsessed brother, but although I'm no stranger to hard graft I do like the social side of life and going out of an evening, so it's always been the hours that have killed it for me.
That, and the fact that I'm probably not the best person to be dealing with members of the public - especially when they're pissed. ;D
Julian probably has the best setup, whereby he's only open during the day. Even so, I understand that his day starts at 6.00am with prep, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't get home until gone 7.00pm.
So, up at 5.00am, 13 hours in a kitchen, fall asleep in front of the TV, get up and start again the next morning...
About the only part of that I could do is falling asleep in front of the TV...
It's something you have to be truly passionate about I guess, and full respect to anyone who gives it a go.
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That's interesting Mr. Dhali. I somehow forgot that UK restaurants are open till daft O'clock in the morning. And most punters at that time are a bit worse for wear.
Yes I think Julian has the right idea, but as you say, he works very long hours. GOOD LUCK to that man I say.
Could be different in this part of the world though. Your average Indian restaurant's trading hours are 5.30pm to 9.30pm. Most Aussies seem to be in bed by 10 pm at the very latest. mmmmmmmmm
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And you could also upset some of the natives, muscling in on there territory ;D
Watch out for the curry mafia ;) You don't want a cold vindy thrown at your windows,
Les
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What about doing a delivery only service ? Cook from home (providing your kitchen is up to hygiene standards) ,no one in the waiting area looking daggers at you waiting for their curry :D Just get some leaflets out and wait for the phone calls ;D
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Hi emin-j,
Cook from home (providing your kitchen is up to hygiene standards)
I could be wrong but I'm sure that you're not allowed to sell food that has been cooked in a domestic kitchen. You would need two seperate cooking kitchens. Remember Masala Mahmood on Eastenders? :o
Ray :)
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Hi emin-j,
Cook from home (providing your kitchen is up to hygiene standards)
I could be wrong but I'm sure that you're not allowed to sell food that has been cooked in a domestic kitchen. You would need two seperate cooking kitchens. Remember Masala Mahmood on Eastenders? :o
Ray :)
A Northerner who watches Eastenders!
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3L1GT2Lecg0/SNNVEoeG1gI/AAAAAAAAAqo/zyAmh0XSxWU/s400/HowVeryDareYou.jpg)
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A Northerner who watches Eastenders!
Who Sir? Me Sir? No Sir......err the wife told me ::)
;)
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Just wondered if any of you have ever considered going into business in a restaurant or takeaway?
You have to work 7 days a week, everybody gets paid next to nothing and it will put you off curry for life
Seriously, that's the truth, from all the chefs I know
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I love cooking. I started cooking with my mum when I was about seven and more than 30 years later I still have the same fascination. Periodically with Indian, but also Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, you name it.
I can't think of anything that would kill that love stone dead than having to do it for a living.
Fair doos to those that can, but cooking as a pastime and cooking in a restaurant are two different things. I've done a few month in a kitchen and all I ever felt was exhausted.
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Hi Fried
I am exactly the same as you. I just know if I felt like I was being forced to cook, I would stop enjoying it!
Imagine doing a 10 hr shift and sending out the last meal and some drunken idiot says your food is crap!!! Not worth the hassle!
Regards
Barry
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I worked a bar for some years and that alone can be long, hard and tireing hours. As much as i'm enjoying cooking and watching my guests enjoy the food, I think doing those sort of hours in a kitchen would not be worth the payback.....unless ....
.... you take a back seat as such.
To be successful you would first need to establish yourself and premisis as a good food place, and then hand over the reigns to a number of chefs who will come and go / work alternative nights and share your skills and knowledge with them while acting as a back seat manager.
You would of course be fronting the house then, meeting and greeting and getting to know your regulars and maybe rolling up your sleeves to cook the specialities.
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More than 16 hours some days (unless you work for someone) - starting at 0300am buying fresh produce from markets etc - then preparing and first cook off for things like Bhajis - preparing the naan dough etc pre cooking the chicken, lamb - cutting up 25/35 kgs of onions for 2 hours making the 35/40 litres of base gravy then if you are busy having another pot of base made up ready, making all the mixed spice up (which goes down very quickly) buying in all the powdered ingredients, buying all the kitchen equipment, cooker fryer fridge freezer sink all essential then all the pots and pans knives cooking utensils - before you start with the tables table cloths plates cutlery the list goes on ......... and on .......... and on......... and on............ and on..................and on ...............
Thats just the kitchen side - then there is the staff side if you have any - watching for stealing of meat or any other item - easy to take out of a kitchen, making sure everyone shuts the freezer door / fridge door to stop spoilage of goods - being able to talk to staff not like old Ramsay ( i love the guy) if you talk down to someone watch the food that goes out to the customer it will be spoiled anger and pride cause a lot of problems - then there is the side that takes the money - watch for stealing there too - or genuine mistakes in counting up the change - how do you take the money, set up a credit card system
Then there is tax to pay - however if its all done with till receipts - they have to be kept for providing proof of sales keep all receipts from the purchase of goods - how much to pay wages YOU WILL work for nothing at first all business starts chaotic ploughing money back into the business after all it is going to be your money making venture right!
Then if you are working during the hours of alcohol consumption all the piss heads - complaining about their meal ( they have no idea how to cook but they had a Tikka Masala at their favourite restaurant and yours doesnt taste like it) - and many more!!!
and on ......... and on............ and on ............. and on .............
great isnt it -
best Rich
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I wouldn't even entertain the idea of a restaurant. me and the wife ran pubs in the Manchester area for the last 3 years before we emigrated. One had a catering kitchen, of which I was the only staff member. I DID enjoy it. :o
But, basically dealing with the general public for any length of time can be a pain, you get to see the worse in people.
But a takeaway?????? MMmmmmm!!
My wife is Hong Kong Chinese (grew up in UK) and her family had takeaways. She said NEVER AGAIN. So this wouldn't be a joint husband/wife venture.
Giving it some serious consideration. I'm sick of being on the tools and my knees and back are bollixed. Could be a good move. ??? :-\
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I'm a home brewer. No I don't knock out tins of kit beer, I'm an all grain brewer with my car sitting in the rain because the garage is a brauhaus with thousands of dollars of equipment, bins of malt, five temperature controlled fridges, three taps of ales and lagers on draught, etc etc ;D
However in the HB community there's also the "wow wouldn't it be great to open a microbrewery / brewpub and spend my days doing what I love to do, create wonderful craft beers...."
But like most businesses, the "core" bit is only about a quarter of it. The rest is filling out VAT returns, hiring and firing staff, paying the bills and getting up at 5 am to shovel stuff in the cold and dark and get very damp whilst doing so ???
I really admire the people who work so hard to bring us luscious food and drinks, bless em.
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I'm a home brewer. No I don't knock out tins of kit beer, I'm an all grain brewer with my car sitting in the rain because the garage is a brauhaus with thousands of dollars of equipment, bins of malt, five temperature controlled fridges, three taps of ales and lagers on draught, etc etc ;D
However in the HB community there's also the "wow wouldn't it be great to open a microbrewery / brewpub and spend my days doing what I love to do, create wonderful craft beers...."
But like most businesses, the "core" bit is only about a quarter of it. The rest is filling out VAT returns, hiring and firing staff, paying the bills and getting up at 5 am to shovel stuff in the cold and dark and get very damp whilst doing so ???
I really admire the people who work so hard to bring us luscious food and drinks, bless em.
Excellent - another home brewing fanatic. I started mashing my own grain beers back in 1980, and haven't stopped since. I've calmed production down from its peak of 10 gallons a week ( :o I had A LOT of 'friends' back then! ;D ), but it sounds like you're even more enthusiastic than that, Beachbum.
As with curry, I've often thought about going into business, but (as with a curry business), running a micro brewery ain't a barrel of laughs (excuse the pun).
So many of them go down before they get a chance to make a success of it, but I'm mightily grateful to the micros that manage to thrive, and love nothing better than to consume their products with gusto - preferably with a stupidly hot curry...
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Cook from home (providing your kitchen is up to hygiene standards)
You are correct. You don't need a separate kitchen - just one kitchen that meets local authority standards.
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A Northerner who watches Eastenders!
I read an article about so-called trolls recently. They gave the posting of daft images as one example, and you certainly have form on that front. It's part of what I think of as the dumbing-down of this once great forum.
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I mash brewed form about 1981 to 1986 then got fed up.
For my 21st birthday, my sister offered to get me a gold chain or something like that, and I said, "Please get me a Brewheat"
I used to follow Dave Line's recipes "Brewing beers like those you buy" I think Dave (God rest his soul) would have been the equivalent of Pat Chapman in the brewing world. His recipes were nearly there. lol
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I mash brewed form about 1981 to 1986 then got fed up.
For my 21st birthday, my sister offered to get me a gold chain or something like that, and I said, "Please get me a Brewheat"
I used to follow Dave Line's recipes "Brewing beers like those you buy" I think Dave (God rest his soul) would have been the equivalent of Pat Chapman in the brewing world. His recipes were nearly there. lol
Bless Dave Line - a man truly dedicated to his cause. I still have my tattered copy of "Brewing beers like those you buy" in my bookshelf.
It was a sad day when he died, as there was more to come from him I'm sure. Although I'm not certain how he died, I suspect that it's a vocational hazard when you dedicate your life to producing books about brewing beer and the all-important testing of the recipes therein...
Apologies for going off topic and discussing beer on a curry forum - but beer and curry do kind of go hand in hand...
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Cook from home (providing your kitchen is up to hygiene standards)
You are correct. You don't need a separate kitchen - just one kitchen that meets local authority standards.
Agreed, just read an artical that supports this. Interestingly, quite a few States in the US strictly prohibit the sale of food cooked from a domestic kitchen.
Ray :)
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Mr. Dhali
Dave Line died in 1979 at the age of 37. :'( :'(
I have the second edition of his book "Brewing beers like those you Buy" and it tells you on the back cover about his death!! Sad loss. He WAS the home brew king back then.
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I think to make money running a curry business you would have to really devote your and your families lives to it. Take Az as an example, he works 7am - 5pm in the wholesale warehouse that he owns Mon - Fri then it's of to the takeaway to cook and manage from 6pm - 8pm, then over to the restaurant which then starts getting busy to work from 8pm until sometimes 2am if its a Fri or Sat night. I think he gets Wednesday evenings off and Sundays during the day, unless a chef calls in sick in which case he has to work. His wife also spends probably 20 - 30 hours a week looking after the running of both establishments. That's a combined total of around 100 hours a week they put into it. Sod that for a laugh!
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I mash brewed form about 1981 to 1986 then got fed up.
So did I for quite a while. The only real way to get proper beer in fact.
I used to follow Dave Line's recipes "Brewing beers like those you buy" I think Dave (God rest his soul) would have been the equivalent of Pat Chapman in the brewing world. His recipes were nearly there. lol
I think DL delivered instantly. From my recollection of the several beers i brewed follwing his recipes every one was absolutely spot on. I particularly enjoyed the white shield and fullers ESB. PC however, didn't quite deliver to the same extent unfortunately. Out of interest has there ever been any work to surpass DL's iconic text??
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I mash brewed form about 1981 to 1986 then got fed up.
So did I for quite a while. The only real way to get proper beer in fact.
I used to follow Dave Line's recipes "Brewing beers like those you buy" I think Dave (God rest his soul) would have been the equivalent of Pat Chapman in the brewing world. His recipes were nearly there. lol
I think DL delivered instantly. From my recollection of the several beers i brewed follwing his recipes every one was absolutely spot on. I particularly enjoyed the white shield and fullers ESB. PC however, didn't quite deliver to the same extent unfortunately. Out of interest has there ever been any work to surpass DL's iconic text??
If someone's not afraid of long hours & enthusiastic enough then why not. Adding your cooking skills & cuisine to an already established eating place, be it cafe or whatever catering for the lunch time market, may be a fairly unique selling point. Id love to see lunch size bir portions in a roll n sausage shop tbh. Whatever way, at least you won't be handing out credit to customers....thats when the the fun really disappears & the stress begins.....30 days?....60 days?....90 days?....never?..good luck with whatever you do, no one would do anything otherwise ;)
Separate Dave Line thread would be great, I have the 1985 version somewhere but never had a bash, could be an excellent thread!
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A Northerner who watches Eastenders!
I read an article about so-called trolls recently. They gave the posting of daft images as one example, and you certainly have form on that front. It's part of what I think of as the dumbing-down of this once great forum.
You just can't help yourself can you?
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Yes the Fullers ESB was a good recipe as was the Marstons Pedigree. I think the main problem with homebrew was a good reliable yeast source. (rather than the dried sachet) A mate of mine aquired some yeast from the old Boddingtons brewery, and it made a huge difference to the brew. I continued to use this yeast until I stopped brewing.
Can't really remember why I stopped brewing, it just fizzled out in the end.
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Yes the Fullers ESB was a good recipe as was the Marstons Pedigree. I think the main problem with homebrew was a good reliable yeast source. (rather than the dried sachet) A mate of mine aquired some yeast from the old Boddingtons brewery, and it made a huge difference to the brew. I continued to use this yeast until I stopped brewing.
Can't really remember why I stopped brewing, it just fizzled out in the end.
Ahh... That brings back memories... Dave Line's ESB recipe was my first ever non-kit home brew back in 1980 (a malt extract affair, dry hopped in a polypin, from memory). It tasted naff-all like ESB, but it was still bloody good.
Real ESB remains one of my all-time favourite beers to this day...
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I have, I used to teach Asian Cookery at Night School, to people who like me enjoy Asian food so much.
I started going to the classes and did that for 3 years, once a week and came home with the finished product, then I started to invite friends round for Indian Nights, I continued with the classes because I enjoyed them so much, Then the Indian Lecturer who also had a restaurant in City asked How would I like to become his assistant, I would come in early and Prep up for the class, get the spices out, Make the Chappti the Industrial Mixer, help throughout the class and then do the washing up at the end, I also made a couple of dishes myself, It was great and I was getting PAID for enjoying myself..
One week the Lecturer was ill and the Head of Centre asked me WOULD I take the class !! ???
I did and enjoyed every minute, teaching to people who WANTED to learn.
The following year I got offered my own class in another part of the City and took them until we moved to France..
I eventually missed my classes, so I started inviting Brit's here in France who missed a GOOD OLD UK Asian meal, the curries in France as SO SO BLAND, in fact who ever said French Food would was great must have been mad!
Now I take small classes in the summer from my kitchen, I usually have 6 people here, they come first thing and we all prepare a meal, which we sit down to on the terrace in the sun and eat
I have done this 4 years now and I get repeat people who have now become friends coming back each time..
So yes If you enjoy Indian Food start your own class or do the Underground Restaurant that is spring up all over the UK and France... Just watched this week *The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo *
:) :) :)
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Just wondered if any of you have ever considered going into business in a restaurant or takeaway?
There are some very knowledgable and helpful people on this form, and just like Julian at Curry2go, I'm sure some of you would have a great chance at making a success of things.
So, anyone got any aspirations of hitting the big time in curry land? :)
[/quoite] I work in a take away just 1 night a week and if you see all the work behind the scene I would say unless that is what one is looking for virtually living in a takeaway 24/7its a 100% NO for me its work 5.30 home 11pm no worries
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A Northerner who watches Eastenders!
I read an article about so-called trolls recently. They gave the posting of daft images as one example, and you certainly have form on that front. It's part of what I think of as the dumbing-down of this once great forum.
You just can't help yourself can you?
I'm happy to justify everything I write, including my criticism here in response to your latest personal attack. If you like 'daft images' a bit like a teenager might enjoy comics, then fair enough. Say something useful for once, rather than a post that's a 100% personal attack, without anything useful to say. Also, when I 'lash out' it's generally because some plonker like you has attacked me first.
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A Northerner who watches Eastenders!
I read an article about so-called trolls recently. They gave the posting of daft images as one example, and you certainly have form on that front. It's part of what I think of as the dumbing-down of this once great forum.
You just can't help yourself can you?
I'm happy to justify everything I write, including my criticism here in response to your latest personal attack. If you like 'daft images' a bit like a teenager might enjoy comics, then fair enough. Say something useful for once, rather than a post that's a 100% personal attack, without anything useful to say. Also, when I 'lash out' it's generally because some plonker like you has attacked me first.
Stop arguing BOYS or no curry will be made