After two years of juggling my day job, burger boy & I’s business and foodie cravings, I decided to focus my 100% to do what I love, all the time.
For those of you who have been following my food blog, you’ll know that burger boy and I took the plunge almost two years ago to join the Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar family and open our store in Mount Lawley. It was nerve wrecking at the time, as we both didn’t have any food experience and we knew little about running our own business. From the fit-out delays to finding the perfect team and the long hours – it’s been a long and rewarding journey.
This decision didn’t come easy as I loved my day job (of four years), I’ve made some awesome friends and it’s pretty cool to have the Perth CBD at my office’s doorstep. Finding a good coffee isn’t hard with Lowdown Espresso Bar downstairs, Velvet around the corner and @Panache across the road. I knew it was meant to be when the Lowdown Espresso brothers said they were opening a second store called BossMan located conveniently around the corner from our Crust near Cantina 663 in Mount Lawley.
In all seriousness, my decision to make the move from the corporate sector to the Perth hospitality scene full-time all came about when our pizza maker Karina was to flown to the Gold Coast to compete in Crust’s National Pizza Competition.
Karina’s White Chocolate and Raspberry Tart featured below won the state round and she came second nationally out of 100+ stores. burger boy and I were proud parents to say the least…
It’s also customer fan mail like this which made me realise I want to do what I love, all the time…
So last week was my first official week where my 100% focus was on burger boy’s and I’s Crust and the blog. It did feel a bit odd last Monday, not needing to get up early before the day job to respond to emails and schedule Crust business meetings after the day job. It didn’t take me long to settle in though, this was my Tuesday…
I soon discovered that most of my favourite places to go for fish and chips were only open in the evenings…
Next time I’ll be heading to a beach near the Groper’s and his wife which I hear are open during the day.
I’m loving the flexibility to schedule meetings when I want, work in the comfort of my own home and to have the energy to work in the business in the evenings.
With Beaufort Street Festival coming up again (program just launched this week), I’ve been busy curating pizza competitions for the food stage. If you’re going to be at the Beaufort Street Festival, Perth comedian Colin Ebsworth will be on-stage from 4:20 – 4:40pm and he’ll be looking for contestants from the crowd for a pizza box treasure hunt, pizza box tower and pizza eating competition. Send me an email if you’re keen to get involved as I’ll be locking in some contestants by the 10 November too. Colin Ebsworth with his fellow Perth comedians Sarah Furtner and Adam Peter Scott had performed at our Crust – check out this video if you feel like a few laughs, we were worried our bench was going to break.
Back at our store on the corner of Walcott St, we’re going to have an astroturf chill-out lounge with free Wifi thanks to Freedom Wifi, keg chairs and a Crust $10 nine-inch pizza & drink festival offer. This super cool Upper Crust Bike will also be doing sampling at the festival (yep it moves).
So from now on, you’ll find more Perth eats and drinks outside of the Perth CBD featured on foodie cravings and also posts at all hours as I’ll be working nights at burger boy and I’s Crust
A blog post featuring my farewell lunch at The Stables Bar and drinks at Lalla Rookh will be coming soon.
