A taste of success Food made with passion and bravery on the menu for entrepreneur
A28-YEAR-OLD who spent years “failing” in hundreds of different jobs has opened a Jamaican restaurant in Bristol - and is already seeing the business thriving.
Roger Moore, who is originally from Jamaica and moved to Bristol on Christmas Day in 2001 when he was 11, has open an eatery on Hillside Road.
After spending a number of years in jobs that he hated and getting increasingly frustrated, Roger’s mum suggested he started to do some cooking as he enjoyed it.
Then, in January 2017, the pair decided to start cooking Jamaican food in their kitchen at home to sell.
Roger explained: “On the very first Friday we opened, we sold out within an hour.
“I started a delivery from home with two other friends and it blew up from there. I did that for a year, but I had to take a little break as we weren’t allowed to operate from home for very long just because of the volume we were pushing out.”
Roger managed to put some money together with the help of friends and family, and started looking for a premises for an actual restaurant.
After spotting a space available for rent on Hillside Road, he approached the landlord who owned the convenience store next door.
“I immediately went and spoke to him to try and get a good deal,” Roger explained. “It was being advertised for around £30,000 and that’s before you even got through the door.
“After a couple of weeks showing him my vision and social media base, I convinced him and he turned down all the other offers.
“There were people who were offering him the full amount of money and he gave me almost an 80 per cent discount, which was amazing.”
On the opening night of Roger Moore’s Caribbean Cuisine, on Saturday, December 1, the restaurant had 300 people through its doors.
As well as his mum, Roger now has a friend and their mum as part of the business, and family members working as bar staff and doing cleaning.
“It’s a family operation,” he said. Although there are already a number of Caribbean restaurants in Bristol, Roger is not nervous of the competition.
“Bristol is booming with different Caribbean places at the moment [but] where I am located there is nothing close.
“It’s about keeping the menu vibrant and different.”
Roger also has an interesting approach to developing the menu - by interacting with customers on social media.
Customers can follow the restaurant on its social media platforms and Roger gives customers the chance to pick their own specials. He said: “We get customers involved rather just cooking what we want. It’s no longer just about the food - it’s about connecting with people.”
The biggest learning curve, Roger admits, has been developing management skills.
“I have never done anything on this level or scale before. Managing staff and the kitchen, food safety and also my cash flow, and making sure we are profiting and we can pay our staff adequately, has been a big challenge.”
The restaurateur credits his landlord and the chef at Caribbean Croft in Bristol for helping him achieve success.
He said: “They have both helped me. My landlord runs multiple businesses and he has been guiding me, and the chef has been a huge support.
“It’s very unusual for restaurants to help other restaurants set up, particularly if they are selling the same food, but he’s given me his full support for which I’m very grateful.”
Roger’s advice to other entrepreneurs is to be brave enough to take the leap.
He added: “My biggest regret is not having the bravery to go for it sooner. If you don’t go for it you never know.
“Failure doesn’t mean you have lost - I have failed in the past and it’s not the be all and end all.
“They are only lessons on how to move forward.
“My advice is do what you love and don’t allow money to be the leader of what you are doing, let the passion come through first and the finances will follow.”
Looking to the future Roger hopes to expand his restaurant across the UK.
“I want to be covering the South West in the next three to five years. And after that I would like to have a big chain in the UK, with at least one or two restaurants in every major city,” he added.
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My biggest regret is not having the bravery to go for it sooner. If you don’t go for it you never know.
Roger Moore