How I Got Here: Christa Bloom-Burrows

Why restaurants?​
Honestly, I didn’t plan on it, but when myself and Biff launched Biff’s Jack Shack (the original street food stall that started the business) it was really driven by the fact there was no one cooking what we wanted to eat. So we figured we would have to do it ourselves. Since then, being able to translate that vision into an experience that other people enjoy is incredibly rewarding. 

What time do you wake up?​
Between 7:30 and 8, but I’m working on getting up earlier!  

Tell us something you wish you had been told at the start of your career?​
How challenging working for yourself is.

What’s your favourite restaurant or group of restaurants (besides your own)?​
For the last year I’ve been obsessed with X’ian Biang Biang Noodles in Spitalfields, London; no frills, incredible food, and super speedy service - I love it.

Coffee or tea?​
Always, always coffee.

What motivates you?​
As a vegan running a plant-based business, I genuinely feel like I’m riding on the crest of a wave of change right now. It’s incredibly exciting and motivating to think you’re contributing to a ‘revolution’ in food which I believe will change the way we eat forever. This is my activism.

How often do you check your email?​
Compulsively!

What keeps you up at night?​
I’m your classic perfectionist so I’m always thinking about what we could be doing better. 

Which colleague, mentor or employer has had the biggest influence on your approach to the restaurant business?​
I think people from my prior non-food career have actually had the biggest influence on me, particularly when I was working in performance marketing. They taught me how to be creative, but to quantify creativity with numbers, which I think is an essential skill in food if you want to make money.

Do you prefer a night on the tiles or a night on the sofa?​
It's increasingly becoming the sofa.

Worst business decision?​
Opening a third takeaway location two months after our second without enough capacity at the time to give it the support it needed. We weren’t really planning to even open it, but the opportunity came up and it seemed like an ‘open goal’. In reality it overstretched our focus, but we learnt from it.

Best business decision?​
Deciding to be more than just a restaurant business. That will always be our foundation, but being able to branch into product - with our Crispy Fried Jackfruit wingz and patties now being distributed on-trade nationwide - has opened up a whole new area of possibilities for us. It’s allowing us to reach more people at the kind of rate we would never be able to achieve with bricks and mortar sites alone. 

What’s your signature dish to cook at home?​
My husband would probably say it's my twice-weekly ‘lazy dinner’ of veg, tofu and hot sauce, but I’d say it's my miso-glazed aubergine and roasted brussel sprouts.

What piece of advice would you give to those looking to climb the rungs in the business?​
Being organised is as important as working your arse off; you can’t do one without the other.

Favourite holiday destination?​
Indonesia; it's where we were first introduced to jackfruit, which has become the foundation of our business, so that country always has a special place in my heart.

If you could change one thing about the restaurant industry today, what would it be?​
Top-down changes to improve sustainability and reduce waste. At the moment we seem to rely on individual business to try and solve everything, and there’s a lot we can do alone, but we really need to come together and create radical changes across the whole system.