Kathryn Minchew, owner and chef at Pyromaniac Chef, explains why the business should win the Startup of the Year category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition:
Gloucester Studio is one of the world’s smallest restaurants. It operates from a Kota [Finnish BBQ] hut in my back garden with much of the food being cooked on the central fire pit (hence me branding myself as The Pyromaniac Chef).
As the restaurant only seats eight people and is limited to 30 bookings a year by the council, I needed to present bookings as an exclusive experience and generate media interest in order for the business to be viable.
My online PR coverage for the last 15 months has had an estimated 835,000 views via sites such as the Daily Mail and BBC, I have made several appearances on local radio (BBC Radio Gloucestershire) and been featured in Waitrose Weekend and Cotswold Life.
Next week I will be on my regional ITV news channel. I have generated media stories by talking about my reaching the Masterchef semi-finals in 2008, successfully crowdfunding and subsequently publishing ‘The Pyromaniac Chef Cook Book’ (now available on Amazon) and entering the World Bread Awards with a loaf cooked over fire and delivered to the competition by my son dressed as a traditional bread boy.
I have been hugely inspired by the Danish term ‘hygge’ [coziness], and my business is very much the story of my interpretation of it and efforts to experience it in my everyday life. From the recipes I create to my scented candle range, Pyromaniac Chef is foremost about fulfilling my own need for cosiness.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
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