All restaurateurs encounter problems and have their fair share of bad luck. That’s a given.
However after a series of staffing issues, plumbing problems and an over sensitive fire alarm, the sale of the prototype Coal in Cardiff to Tragus last year did not upset owner John Gater all that much.
Part of the reason Coal had come to be at all was that having finally addressed the above bugbears at the blighted site in the brewery quarter of the city, the office above the then MA Potters flooded.
Note: Some things are simply not meant to be.
With several gallons of dirty water now in his eaterie Gater took the opportunity to try something new and created the Coal brand, which he is now rolling out.
So it was with amusement of a wicked sort that Kitchen Rat learnt one new Coal location will be in Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre, which was hit by the severe summer flooding this year and for a time was better suited to ducks than shoppers being filled with several thousand gallons of water.
When reminded of this fact and asked if there was any lasting sensitivity around flooding and restaurants Gater simply laughed.
“I’ve made sure the restaurant's on the first floor,” he said.
Whether the one level up nothing above approach will become roll-out policy for the chain remains to be seen but maybe a fleet of narrow boats could be a solution to set it apart from the lieks of PizzaExpress. Maybe not.
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