This is our story
Jack and Luke. The brothers in question. We've put so much into Thatziki that we figured some people might actually want to read about how it happened. We've made more mistakes than we can count, and that's exactly why we're now serving over 200,000 Gyros a year. But it wasn't always like this.
Setting the scene
You and your sibling are both working your 3 month notice period at your respective workplaces after you actually quit, like you said you would, to 'do your own thing'. The good news? You're young and naive, only one of you has a mortgage, only one wedding in the calendar, childless and you get to work every day with your brother. The bad news? You’re young and inexperienced, one of you has a mortgage and wedding to pay for and you have to work every day with your brother!
The Plan (the eventual plan we decided to go with)
Get a loan from your bank because it's the last time for a while you'll look good on paper (to a bank and potential love interests) and use the car loan you just got to buy a food truck. £22k to be exact. Brand up and start slinging. It's only going to be one food, the one we care about the most and are well versed in from our childhood. Greek. Specifically Gyros. Sounds so simple?
The execution of said plan
Surprisingly well, actually. Obviously we run out of gas the first night we open and are very slow in the kitchen to start with. But we care a lot about the food that leaves the truck and, as we do today, make our core ingredients from scratch, the reviews are great. The major problem? The lack of customers.
If you googled 'How to make enough money to pay your mortgage and save for a wedding', you'd have to scroll a while before it recommended buying a food truck and parking on some unlit wasteland near a canal in Worsley. Even further still for it to suggest starting in January.
Some stats so far:
Money in bank: -£5,987
Gyros per minute rate: 1 every 5 mins
% of Newtons working at Thatziki: 40%
Arguments: 1
Staff members: 0
Support from friends and family: unbelievable
The turning point
We will forever be grateful to Mr Joel Smith, formerly of Manchester's Finest and now lead singer of the brilliant Corella, for coming down to the truck and filming a video - just us making our Gyros. Millions of views on social media later and what's this? People driving from all over to eat our food? A queue?
We've got a supply issue. Selling out every day we open, sometimes before we even open.
The ball was well and truly rolling. We even started to see less of our regulars that we used to love like Dawbs with his dog Caesar. It was just too busy for them (and us). Where we were once so grateful for friends and family turning up, we kind of hoped they didn't. So we could serve actual customers.
Next up, a kitchen takeover in a local bar, events on the truck, and somehow we managed to save enough to take on a takeaway in Chorlton. And to put some towards Jack's wedding. In Chorlton we built a solid team (shoutout the OGs: Alex, Myles, Leah, Freya). Next up?
Foodhall. Let's get Thatziki going
About 20 months after we first opened the hatch we opened in Kargo MKT. Foolishly, like we'd always done, we thought we could do it on our own. After our first Saturday and a royal battering we realised that was definitely not the case. Reinforcements were recruited and they allowed us to meet the demand that Salford brought us. By this time we were so much faster and could just about keep up. It was our first site open 7 days a week and we perfected our processes and systems. It also meant we had to say goodbye to our two other units - getting Kargo right was taking so much of our time and resources.
Some more characters to introduce
To improve, as we operate we try to do one thing better each day. Over time that adds up. One of those changes was to employ our Dad, John. Head of Logistics. Sounds fancy but we're not quite at the stage where we need a head of logistics. He makes our marinade and sauces, ensures each site has enough stock, and mediates between me and Jack. Now it's time to introduce another family member.
Visiting Leeds to see how our sister was settling in at university, we spotted an empty unit in Trinity Shopping Centre and both fancied it. Six months later, an ill-timed holiday from me (Luke) meant Jack had the most stressful week of his life as he opened it alone. We even had a screen that told us how many Gyros to make. We'd made it. Two and a half years after we started, multiple sites and almost the entire Newton family on the payroll.
Some more stats:
Money in bank: obviously not telling you that. it's more than before, but not as much as you'd think.
Gyros per minute rate: 1 every 30 seconds
% of Newtons working at Thatziki: 80%
Arguments: 5
Staff members: 50
Support from friends and family: still unbelievable
The end of the beginning of our story
Since then, we've reinvested every year and now have 6 sites - including one in the very centre of Manchester. Two brothers, one food truck, so many amazing customers, one very understanding family, and a lot of Gyros. We're proud of what we've built, and we can't wait for more people to try our food as we grow. We know they'll like it.