Experienced hospitality managers embark on a new business journey amidst the pandemic to bring a different hospitality experience to Cardiff.
Caroline and Tudor Barber decided to overcome the Covid-19 challenges by using lockdown as an opportunity to realise their ambition of owning a food and hospitality venue in Cardiff. The Welsh Government’s Business Wales service has supported them with start-up issues, enabling the pair to source funding and successfully pick up the keys for their business in February 2021.
- A successful start during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- 2 jobs created.
- Start-up loan secured.
- Introduction to business.
Launched by entrepreneurial husband and wife pair Tudor and Caroline Barber, Neighbourhood is a Cardiff-based hospitality business, offering a venue for street-food pop-ups as well as holiday room lets.
We asked Tudor and Caroline about their business journey and here is what they shared:
Why did you decide to set up your own business?
Caroline and I have both worked in hospitality for a number of years. Until the pandemic hit, Caroline ran a successful music venue (Tramshed) and I ran a large-scale street food event company (Street Food Warehouse).
However, finding both of us on furlough, and our industry decimated by the pandemic, encouraged us to speed up our 5-year plan. We sat on our sofa during lockdown V1.0 and wrote our dream business plan together – and we set about finding a suitable venue in Cardiff.
As avid travellers/city breakers, we have travelled Europe every year for the last 9 summers, so we wanted to open a venue and accommodation we would make a beeline for in other cities but felt like Cardiff is lacking. Something different to your average Airbnb offering! Our street food kitchen offers casual dining for eating and drinking, whether you spend the night with us or use us as a stop off on your night of fantastic entertainment in the city.
What challenges did you face?
Finding a suitable venue was difficult in a rapidly changing city! We found somewhere suitable but it fell through due to issues with the existing leaseholder and it cost us £2,000 in legal fees to get to the stage when the deal collapsed. We then found a second venue, which we settled our hearts on, on Tudor Street, Riverside, a stone's throw away from Cardiff’s Central Station and the Principality Stadium. The area is undergoing £4 million worth of regeneration and is around the corner from Tramshed, so we knew this was the place for us.
Another challenge was sourcing funding in the middle of a pandemic! Understandable with the economy in rapid recession, there were very few lending opportunities available for a start-up business, particularly in hospitality. But with the help and support of Business Wales we were able to source the funding we needed to make our dream a reality.
Business Wales support
- A successful start during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- 2 jobs created.
- Start-up loan secured.
Having worked with Business Wales’ Growth Adviser Miranda Bishop on previous ventures, Tudor and Caroline engaged with her when they decided to bring forward their plan for a new hospitality business in Cardiff.
Miranda assisted the pair with their business plan and financial forecasts and provided advice on costings and sourcing funding. The support allowed Tudor and Caroline to successfully secure finance from the Start-Up Loans Company and launch the business.
What can you say about your engagement with your adviser?
Where do we start?! Miranda has been incredible. She listened intently to our possibly wild ideas and provided us with reassurance and encouragement. Miranda helped us with guidance and proofreading of our business plan and supported us with financial templates, which made our forecasting very easy. She was able to recommend appropriate funding for our start-up and guided us through the application process, which was seamless. We received a successful decision within weeks! Having gotten to know us, Miranda has since continued to provide us with regular support, guidance and regularly suggests further business support that could aid our business growth.
Future plans and ambitions
Our plans are to have a busy restaurant supporting local street food businesses and their suppliers. We want to have a full guesthouse of travellers to the city offering a unique local insight into how to enjoy our wonderful city.
Our ambitions are to cement Neighbourhood as a cornerstone to the community of Riverside and Grangetown for years to come. We would love to open a second and third venue in the future.
If you want to read more success stories of how Business Wales has helped other people like you to start or grow their businesses, visit https://businesswales.gov.wales/case-studies or follow @_businesswales / @_busnescymru on Twitter.