Sabrosa
Meet Lewis Ellis, who turned a lifelong love of cooking into Sabrosa, a food business built on quality, flavour and a personal connection with customers. Inspired by cooking with his dad and shaped by years working in kitchens, including his first role in a Spanish tapas restaurant, Lewis decided to start something of his own that felt more relaxed but never compromised on standards.
With support from Hayley at Durham Startups, he continues to build the business through repeat customers, quick turnaround orders and an ever-changing menu. “It puts the heart back into it instead of being faceless.”
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Every time I speak with Hayley, there’s so much more I learn. Uh, most recent chat was about using social media in a more personal way.
A lot of our orders come through online via Facebook, or we get a lot of phone calls as well. So normally we give people around 15 minutes collection time, sometimes shorter depending on what they order, um, which tends to be quite quick turnaround.
I used to cook all the time as a kid with my dad. He really inspired me — he had a lot of good flavours. It was something I always enjoyed doing. After I left school, I sort of went in search for a chef job without any experience, really. I wound up at this little place; it was a tapas restaurant. I worked under an amazing head chef and he showed me everything he could.
I’ve worked for quite a few different places, and some places I really loved. Other places were not so great, and working in those not-so-great places sort of inspired me to just start something of my own. Um, something that’s a bit different, something that’s more relaxed but also high quality.
**[Interviewer]** Are things going well?
Yeah, things are going really well. I have a lot of repeat customers. Um, a lot of people coming in the door, a lot of people trying it, which is good to see — the people, good to see the faces. It sort of puts the heart back into it instead of being sort of faceless, if you know what I mean.
From here, I want to keep building. We’re always chucking exciting things on the menu — stuff that, you know, you can’t normally get from a place like this. There is good competition around here, um, that’s for sure. But we do strive for quality and portions for the amount of money that someone wants to pay, um, which is important, ’cause it’s what keeps us having repeat customers.
My ultimate dream is to keep pushing on and then eventually open a restaurant. That would be where I’d want to be.
**[Interviewer]** And why the name of the business? Why Sabrosa?
Sabrosa is Spanish for “tasty”, and obviously the first restaurant I worked at was a Spanish tapas restaurant. It’s just sort of a little nod to that — a sort of little nod to what I learned back in those days.