Two Edinburgh leisure trade veterans have found the time and money invested in creating a restaurant out of an old church building was well spent.

Name:

Nik Whybrew and Simon Donne.

Age:

39 and 32 respectively.

What is your business called?

Checkpoint.

Where is it based?

Edinburgh.

What does it produce, what services does it offer?

It’s a restaurant and bar; actually a social dining space is probably more accurate. Labelling our offering is tough.

Whom does it sell to?

Anyone and everyone! We are family, dog and student friendly.

What is its turnover?

£650,000.

How many employees?

18.

When was it formed?

The idea of Checkpoint was formed in 2014. We obtained the lease to a run down, dilapidated old Church building and then had to make it into a building usable as a restaurant. We vastly underestimated the amount of renovation the building needed and it took well over a year of construction work to get to the point where we could start trading. We opened as a pop up during the Edinburgh Festival season 2015 and officially opened our permanent restaurant in October 2015.

Why did you take the plunge?

We worked for years operating restaurants, bars and large-scale outdoor events. After working for other companies for such a long time, and risking other people’s money and always working towards their brief, we decided collectively that it was time to put ourselves out there and put our own money and skills into a project that we could call our own. I still don’t think we’ve figured out if that was a good or a bad idea, it’s much easier when it’s not your money.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

Besides managing venues for other people, we also ran pop up bars at cultural events with our own company Why Do Bars. A lot of our recent work has had a cultural tie in, working in Arts Centres or Festivals, we first met working for Assembly Festival as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

From savings, private investors and the bank – all of which we have to admit were hard work. This was down to us not only starting up a new business but also because we were completely renovating an old church to suit our needs at the same time, which took time and more money than we perhaps expected! There are good sources of start-up funding available for new businesses, but we learnt that you have to be sure exactly where your money is going to be spent, and how much, and missed out on some great opportunities. We were quite naïve at points in our planning and underestimated our spend dramatically which led to headaches further down the track.

What was your biggest break?

Being able to operate in a non-tied property, where we could really put our stamp on the surroundings, and have a chance to really showcase our food and drink offering. The opportunity of the lease, despite being more of a challenge than perhaps we wanted for a first opening, was ultimately too good to turn down. This combined with finding a builder who was prepared to work with us so closely, and patiently, on the design and the way the build was managed. We didn’t hire a quantity surveyor, designer or project manager, taking on all the roles ourselves. This gave us freedom to do what we wanted to do, and control of every aspect of the build, but it also left us to climb a steep learning curve. We’re very proud of what we ended up with though and grateful to those who went with us on the journey.

What was your worst moment?

A particularly tough January week stands out, where it looked like the project was going to fall over despite all our best efforts and we had no money left in the account, had maxed out all our credit cards and borrowed off friends and family. We were still a way from completing the build let alone kitting out the restaurant. Thanks to the patience of the contractors, suppliers and pulling every favour possible we made it out of the other end!

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

The variety of food and drink on our menu far exceeds what we thought was going to be possible in our first year of operation. I still feel proud every time I walk in to Checkpoint, knowing what it looked like prior to us starting the build and how it looks now and hearing the feedback we receive from our customers.

What do you least enjoy?

It has to be the finances.

What are your ambitions for the firm?

To survive the first three years of being open, maintain the consistency of our offering and to use Checkpoint and our learnings from creating the restaurant to be able to develop other ideas and projects.

What are your five top priorities?

Quality, consistency, staff happiness, service and people having a great time under our roof.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

They could make access to start-up funding/ loans more transparent and easier, or give budget or tax relief in the fledging years of trading. Planning and building regulations need to be easier to navigate. Resources for these departments seem to be so thin on the ground, that there clearly is not enough support for the people who work hard to try and improve the lifespan of buildings and get them used.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

We’ve learned three important lessons: Plan more, don’t assume anything and get everything in writing.

How do you relax?

Strangely by eating out and having a drink in someone else’s restaurant and letting them do the work!