Kray Treadwell on launching his debut restaurant in a post lockdown world
While this isn’t the ideal time to open a restaurant the young chef, who was a finalist on Great British Menu, believes his venture is well placed to flourish once it can finally open.
“I feel like things are going to get back to normal, everything always does - people will be eating out eventually, whether that’s sooner rather than later everyone’s in the same boat, so you’ve got to just try and do what’s best for your restaurant,” he says in our latest United We Stand podcast.
Named after the weight of his daughter when she was born four months prematurely, 670 Grams will only be 16 covers, which Treadwell says means he will be able to cope with any social distancing measures fairly easily.
“There will be a maximum of six people in at any one time so social distancing will be fine,” he says. “Upstairs will be an open kitchen with two stool and a table of two and downstairs a table of four and two tables of two. It’s the big restaurants that will struggle.”
670 Grams will be Digbeth’s only fine dining restaurant, says Treadwell. “The area suits the ethos of the restaurant – it’s about getting young people into fine dining and showing them it doesn’t have to being overpriced and pretentious.”
The restaurant will offer a 10-course tasting menu for £60, which Treadwell say will appeal to a younger audience.
“It was priced before the Coronavirus but I think it’d going to benefit us. We are trying to appeal to young people who don’t have £400 to spend on a meal and tell them that you can come out and still have that experience.
“It’s such a small restaurant we don’t need hundreds of staff or hundreds of bottles of wine. The costs are quite low so we can charge less for the experience.”
#UnitedWeStand has been created by William Reed hospitality titles BigHospitality, Restaurant magazine and Morning Advertiser and is supported by Britvic, CocaCola European Partners and Unilever Food Solutions.
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