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Jean Michel's Diary
Bonjour,
Yes, you are probably right, I should be upstairs in the kitchen helping Belinda or
assisting Catriona instead of sitting here at my desk writing to you, but "your call
is important to me…". No it is not like that, I have been neglecting my journal
for a while and there are so many things I need to talk to you about.
I MADE A GREAT DISCOVERY !! Do you want to lose weight? Really??? Well If you are that
desperate and whatever your reasons, the answer is simple, OPEN A RESTAURANT !!!
I never thought it was going to be that painful though. I think it is like giving birth;
the first one, La Garrrigue was as expected, on time, a bit stressful but eventually very
rewarding.
This time it has been slow, full of ups and downs and about 5 weeks late…..but it
arrived and this is when the problems really start; equipment not working, licence
uncertain, electricians, plumbers, joiners, lawyers, suppliers and the bank all join in
with their own issues ….weeks of joy and sleepless nights… Then we were ready,
we opened… and L’Artichaut was born.
The "Duck" is not dead, it just got fed up with the city and flew to the
country.
In the vacant nest L’Artichaut is now growing……and growing… every day
another leaf, then another….
I must admit that whilst it is early days, I am a very proud father and the Baby is doing
well. The team is working very hard to iron out a few small issues and find to its
boundaries. In the kitchen Belinda, Mark and Caroline are preparing some really
interesting dishes; the buzz is great to see. While in the restaurant; Catriona and Marion
are running the show with great professionalism and enthusiasm. It is a very young team
but it is really facinating to see how well they are working together.
Opening a business in the middle of a recession is not an easy task and the challenge of
opening a vegetarian restaurant just adds to the excitment... there are a lot of unknown
factors and it is facinating to learn and discover the needs of a new clientelle and at
the same time being involved in serving good quality food prepared with passion by chefs
who in the past only prepared vegetarian food on request and too often as an afterthought.
The next few weeks are going to be interesting as we are will be able to read about our
performance in the local press and other magazines as we have already had restaurant
critics visiting L’Artichaut, so fingers crossed, that the reading is going to be
encouraging and positive.
Opening a new restaurant of course involves a lot of people and without them the idea
still will be just…. an idea….. As always, support from my family has been
invaluable; Karen has been there for me when things were difficult. My thanks also go to
Malcolm who made the purchase of "Duck" as easy as possible, to Denis from
Brodies and his team for assisting me in all the legal side of things, to Ken my graphic
designer friend, to my friend Stuart the IT Guru, Raphaelle for designing the superb logo,
John the electrician and Robert the kitchen specialist and all the people who encouraged
me in this project, thank you guys.
While this was going on, L’Artichaut’s big sister La Garrigue, was going through
its busiest festival ever and Julie, Paul and Marina were ensuring that the quality of the
food and the service remained to the standard expected from our regular clientelle. Of
course I did try to pop in as often as I could, but I soon realised that Julie had taken
the reins and was running the show with all the skills and flair we all got used to expect
over the years. So once again, thank you to all at La Garrigue, but don’t get to
carried away; "I’LL BE BACK" and that may be sooner that what you think...
Actually, I am on my way there, right now…..see you,
J-Michel
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