Africola is #29 on the AFR Top 100 Restaurants list. Here, co-owner Duncan Welgemoed shares the lessons he learnt when opening his restaurant in Adelaide, and the wise words he received from mentors who helped him to not make a meal of it.
Opened: November 2014 Previous experience: Bistro Dom, The Fat Duck, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Do you have a mentor whom you rely on?
My business partner James Hillier [co-owner of several bars including Golden Boy and Botanic Bar]. The further down the track we go, the more I take from him about running multiple venues, from bars to retail for the past 20 years. Speaking to friends, Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham – co-owners of Sydney venues Mary's in Newtown and the Unicorn Hotel in Paddington – is a great sounding board. Their style is burgers, pubs or live music venues and they've got a pretty incredible retail model for what they do on their own terms.
Best business advice you've been given?
It's going to sound really bad: you have a successful restaurant when your opening staff leave the business. That's when the team settles, that's when it's firing on all cylinders. You're working out all the kinks, and through that you have some casualties. It's easier to get new staff once you've figured out what the f--- you're doing.
Worst piece of business advice?
Don't worry about how much the rent is.
Moment you wished you'd taken – or perhaps even asked for – advice?
It's harder for chefs to realise where their strengths and weaknesses are because it's such a bravado profession. It's ego driven. Just because you are the man in the kitchen doesn't necessarily mean you are the man in the business, especially the back end. In the first six months when my team wasn't solidified, I was working all hours and was exhausted. I'm still exhausted, but that's by choice. The team wasn't particularly happy, I wasn't happy with our food direction. We were doing something very fresh and new and hadn't had time to settle into the kitchen.
What tips would you offer young chefs starting their own restaurant?
Make sure you have an idea of what you want to do food-wise before anything else. Have a really strong idea and a business plan that is extremely thorough. Have people you can lean on for advice. We're not in the '80s any more where you can wing it. It's dog eat dog out there, you need as much support as humanly possible.
The AFR Magazine Culinary issue is out on Friday, June 30 inside The Australian Financial Review.
