A North Tyneside entrepreneurial couple have served up significant expansion plans for 2016 after investing in excess of £100,000 in the North East’s food scene over the past 12 months.
Chris and Katie Stuart, from Holyfield, have launched their second business venture within a year, after initially taking over the West Monkseaton fish and chip shop, Monk Fisheries. Following the success of their new venture and backed by a £25,000 investment, Chris and Katie have added a second business to their foodie empire as they re-launched Deli 13 recently.
The re-opening of the deli, which is located next door to Monk Fisheries, secured three jobs and with expansion on the cards has the potential to create more job opportunities for the region.
Already known for its fresh food made with locally sourced ingredients, over the next 12 months the couple aims to add a larger dine-in area at the deli, creating a hub for the local community, and will launch an outside catering arm and food delivery service.
Chris Stuart, co-owner of Monk Fisheries and Deli 13, said: “Both businesses have a really great reputation with the local community and we want to continue to build on this. Our main values are based heavily on esteemed customer service and attention to detail – something so often sacrificed in a quick-service environment.
“With Monk Fisheries’ success booming, when Deli 13 came up for sale next door we grabbed the chance to purchase it as well. We have a really exciting 12 months ahead of us as we move forward with plans to continue developing our businesses.”
After taking over Monk Fisheries in autumn 2014 for £75,000, Chris and Katie invested a further £6,000 in refurbishing the shop and securing the franchise licence to become the region’s first Stone Willy’s pizzeria.
In addition to offering the unrivalled traditional fish and chips, which Monk Fisheries is renowned for, the popular takeaway has added Stone Willy’s gourmet hot wraps and stone-baked pizzas to its extensive menu, a move which has seen the business go from strength-to-strength.
Further to the couple’s passion for supplying high quality, fresh food-on-the-go, Chris and Katie are very family orientated and have instilled their strong family values across both ventures, with three generations heavily involved in the everyday running of the businesses.
Chris said: “We are extremely proud to be a family-run business. Katie’s father, Keith has a wealth of 35 years’ business experience which helped massively in the initial start-up phases and our two sons, Cameron and Tom, can often be found working alongside us when they aren’t at university.”
Monk Fisheries is located on 9 Seatonville Road in West Monkseaton, for further information call 0191 251 7268, while Deli 13 is situated next door at 13 Seatonville Road and can be contacted on 07725 910610.
