A Day in the Life – Mike Etherington
In a new series, Gill Farquharson chats to Michael Etherington, the owner of Motte & Bailey.
MICHAEL Etherington started working in kitchens when he was 13, chopping vegetables for a café in Chichester which he continued until he left school. His passion for food preparation led him to the prestigious Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork run by celebrity chef Darina Allen. From there his career has included household names such as Petersham Nurseries Café in Richmond, where he went from Commis to Head Chef; work experience with Alice Waters, the American food guru; running the tapas bar, Morito, for the acclaimed Moro Restaurant in London and finally Paris, where he worked for the Rose Bakery, opening and running a restaurant for them in Le Bon Marche, the premier department store in the city.
Coming back home in 2015, at the age of 27, Michael took over what was then the Tudor Rose café and gradually turned it into today’s Motte & Bailey. (The name reflects the Norman style of Arundel Castle which is built on a raised earthwork called a motte with an inner courtyard – the bailey.)
‘I get up every day at 6.00am and start at 7.00am with the early shift when we make scones and cakes for that day. We make everything in the restaurant even down to the salad dressing! Our rota of breakfast, lunch and four nights of tapas creates a lot of preparation through the week – so chefs start at 7.00am and 8.00am to prepare breakfast and lunch. Another chef comes in at about 3.00pm to prepare for tapas which we originally only did on Friday night but is now Wednesday to Saturday inclusive.’
He has about 20 staff – a mix of both full and part-time. For the first two years he was in the café all the time, working horrendously long hours but now, unless a lot of staff are on holiday, he does get a break. ‘There is no normal day or week because it’s always so varied.’
Michael does all the recruitment of staff and explains the café isn’t hierarchical. ‘Everybody works hard and they know how to do everyone’s jobs so they have empathy with each other -if everybody knows what each role is about, they have more understanding. Although people basically come to work for financial security it can be a place where everyone gets on and everyone is courteous and nice to each other. Some kitchens can be very feisty which I really don’t like – I’m definitely not from the Gordon Ramsay mould.’
Michael is in the business at some point every day. Breakfast lasts from 8.30am till 12 noon and then lunch service till 4.00pm with the café closing at 5.00pm. On tapas nights it opens again at 6.00pm. The evening chefs come in at 3.00pm to prepare for tapas but it helps that all the chefs are interchangeable, so that they can be flexible about shifts. A normal day ends at about 6.30pm but tapas nights last till 11.30pm. With that sort of schedule, holidays are infrequent – ‘they’re more breaks than holidays!’ he explains. He is still planning to do the Chichester Triathlon in July however, although his training has been hampered by a broken foot. In a leg brace and supposedly having four weeks rest, he worked despite the doctor’s advice and so his foot has taken longer than it should have done to heal. He is still determined to do the Triathlon however and is trying to make time to get back into training.
His other hobbies such as skiing and sailing have really had to take a back seat because of the business. ‘I found actually running the business was the difficult bit – all the paperwork, rent reviews, VAT – not things I was familiar with but I learnt the hard way! I would like to expand the business in time – if you don’t envisage growth, then what are you doing? I don’t want to stand still. We would like to do more weddings and outside catering – but we will do it slowly. Future plans keep my brain turning which keeps everything fresh and good – I don’t want to get stagnant but I want to grow organically.’
As to his own food choices, his food preference when not at the café is for Italian food but ‘I eat what M&B makes for breakfast, lunch and dinner when I’m working. Porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch and tapas for dinner – I can’t complain!’
Michael is realistic about the problems facing the town. ‘Fundamentally the biggest threat to Arundel is the declining retail sector – people need to use the stores we have. Sparks Yard was a real loss, a destination shop which drew people along Tarrant Street. It’s very tough these days – wages are going up, pension contributions cost money; all our raw ingredients have increased in cost – the prices of our produce has gone up astronomically; vegetables, meat, alcohol – all have increased. Rents are expensive here in Arundel as well but it’s a lovely place – how lucky are we to live and work here?’