When Esmie Stewart left Vodafone after 12 years she “wanted to do something I love, hospitality. So I went to study for my degree and had to work in the kitchen for the first semester. And I absolutely loved it.”
But Esmie was less enamoured by a lack of good quality, authentic Caribbean food in the UK: “I knew what Caribbean food should be, and most of the food I tasted did not taste like it. It wasn't fresh. You’d go into a restaurant and hear the microwave pinging. I wanted to change that.”
So that’s what she did. During Esmie’s degree at the Birmingham College of Food she worked for a community centre, turning its hospitality arm into a popular, tasty destination. Her cooking skills were backed up by her experience as a process development manager at Vodafone, where she had gained her Six Sigma Green Belt (a lean process qualification). “It’s all about streamlining systems to ensure high quality,” she says.
Esmie harnessed these skills when she launched her restaurant, Leave it to Esmie, in 2016. Everything went well until she became seriously ill in 2018. Just as she was recovering the pandemic struck:
“The restaurant was all about me, my dreams, everything I wanted people to have. So without me being there and having to rely on staff – who did everything they could – it was quite difficult watching my dream fade away. When we had Covid-19 we had to diversify to survive.”
When the final lockdown finished Esmie and some of her team hatched a plan. “We wanted to go and educate people about Caribbean cuisine because some people think it’s unhealthy. So we wanted to go out and teach kids and their families to cook on a budget.”
Their vision was for a new food truck which could offer delicious street-food at festivals and run educational activities. But there was one problem. “We thought when we did our research, it would cost something like twenty or thirty thousand pounds to get a second-hand truck, fully equipped. But then something happened with Covid. Everybody was going into street food, so the prices just went through the roof.”
Esmie approached Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust (CWRT) which was able to support her capital expenditure by providing a £48,000 loan with a 40% (£19,200) grant on top, through the Duplex Investment Fund. She had provided her business plan, financial projections and other information and says CWRT were easy to deal with:
“They asked lots of questions and went through everything with us to make sure it would work and the figures made sense. It was like getting free business consultancy. They want to
get you the money, but they want to make sure you can afford it and that your business will survive.
“David was amazing. He didn't push me, he said ‘just take your time, go through it, talk through anything with me, and do not sign unless you understand.’ Which was really good.”
Esmie gave the food truck its first outing in June 2023. “Before the truck we had a catering trailer but it wasn’t fit for purpose, you couldn’t sell much from it. Thanks to the loan and grant, we could buy the truck which has allowed us to double our sales of street food. And with all the pressures on hospitality businesses, we sadly needed to close the restaurant in July 2023, but because we had the truck, we kept everyone in their jobs. And then I've recruited two new people on the truck because we are that busy.”
The truck also advertises Esmie’s catering offer. “People come and taste our food, and then I'm getting a lot of phone calls, can you do my wedding? Can you do my party? We’ve got events booked up for months ahead.”
She also plans to set up family cooking stations during the summer holidays at FarGo Village in Coventry city centre. Recipe boxes are also in development. And Esmie is back living her dream:
“Street food is my passion. I absolutely love it. Absolutely. Going to CWRT was the right move that we made there.”
Written by Jamie Veitch