Krimo's win the Hartlepool Business Awards...

Yep! We did it!

We were shortlisted in the Tourism and Leisure category with The York House Hotel and The Tavistock-Grand Hotel.

A great evening at the Borough Hall. Good food provided by our friends, Cleveland Caterers. Great company at our table among them, Deepdale Solutions.

Adam was at another table, invited by Keith Thomas and Censis Accountants.

After the meal, though he had lost his voice, John Megson of Hartlepool Forum, began announcing the nominees and winners.

Deepdale Solutions won two awards.
Then came our category, the Leisure and Tourism nominations.
Followed by the long wait for the announcement of the winner.
And finally, the realisation that we had won!
I was later told that we had got the loudest cheer of the evening. I did not hear a thing. Karen had said that she would not get up on stage with me. I just grabbed her hand and she followed. Colonel Bob Steward presented us with the award.

Formal photocall, then a couple of words with Chris Cordner of the Hartlepool Mail. And back to our table past congratulatory faces and handshakes.

We thought it was all over but later on in the evening we found out to our total surprise that we were nominated along two other firms for the Hartlepool Business of the Year.
Absolutely amazing!

Krimo's Shortlisted for Business Awards

Twenty four years after we opened at Seaton Carew!

Actually, this is the first year for the new category of Tourism and Leisure at the awards.
I am very proud, chuffed, pleased, honoured... to have been shortlisted along two other businesses.
My friend, Daniel of the York House Hotel has also been shortlisted. We met last week at a PR and Marketing seminar and joked about our respective chances of winning. We both said that we'd be happy if the other won, but added that we each would like to win the Award on its first year. "May the best man win!" while crossing our fingers behind our backs.

We will find out on Thursday evening.

Krimo's Twenty Four...

May the Fourth be with you!

Another year ticks by...

Who would've thought twenty four years after Karen and I opened our little restaurant on Seaton Carew seafront on May 4th 1985 that Krimo's would still be going strong?
And according to a survey I conducted a couple of weeks ago it still is the place for special celebrations in Hartlepool?

I tell people we did it with £250 of our own money but it was less than that. It was actually £240! One week's wages and one week's holiday pay.
But all the credit goes to Bert Bryden, our bank manager who started the ball rolling. He gave us a personal loan to put down as a 10% deposit for our 90% building society mortgage to purchase the freehold property.

Bert knew Steve Adams, the building society manager and I had already cooked for him in a small restaurant in Peterlee. Between them they provided us with a 100% mortgage. They must either have had a lot of faith in us or lots of money to dish out. Was that the start of this current credit crunch?

In the three weeks before the Grand Opening, family and friends helped us scrub clean "Davy Jones’ Locker" as the restaurant had been known prior to closing down two years earlier. They painted, decorated, plastered, shopped, sewed, stitched...

Three weeks after opening, as the Saturdays began to be booked up well in advance, we felt so confident about the future that we organised a get-together with everyone that helped out, including Bert and Steve, to thank them for giving us the chance to take our life in our hands.



And, today, we are grateful to all the customers who have kept us going over the years, and allowed us to expand with a further two restaurants.
There is a saying in the motivational business guru's handbook which tells you to "fall in love with your customers". I guess our saga was love at first sight!
The rest is history...

Adam was 3½ when we opened. Nowadays, he runs Casa del Mar. The photo below was taken outside the original Krimo's in July 86 with his Parisian cousin, Mélissa...