| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Rye by the Water - Shucks! | |
| Posted by: | Tracie Dudley Craig | |
| Date/Time: | 15/09/19 09:35:00 |
| Rye by the Water is operated by a limited company called Rye Bakeries. The directors are Robin Gill, Sarah Gill and Daniel Joines. Robin and Sarah Gill are the founders of The Dairy in Clapham and, together with Daniel Joines, run Sorella (also in Clapham). They are serial restaurateurs. The day-to-day running of RBTW is by Ben Rand (former head chef at The Dairy) and Janine Edwards from the Little Bread Pedler in Bermondsey. The Gills are originally from Ireland, which may tie in with the Ballymore connection. Since, nowadays, no restaurant opens without hefty backing, it is not beyond the realms of possibility to surmise that its inception had been funded by Ballymore. (Whether the management team sought Ballymore for funding to open another outlet, or Ballymore sought the management team to head up the scheme is not known for sure - although it's not very hard to work out.) I would also think it probable that Ballymore provides ongoing funding to keep it in business - they have a large staff, they have minimal weekday turnover, and Rand and Edwards are unlikely to have come cheap. It's also a definite step backwards for Rand and Edwards, career-wise, so there may well have been some form of incentive to lure them. As for the establishment? It's OK. Nothing more. Acceptable sourdough (although I'm completely over the 'sourdough is the only real bread' shtick). The baguettes are appalling, pastries very average (their kouignamman is all wrong) and the coffee is dreadful. Service ranges from sweet to bootfaced and surly. Even if it is haemorrhaging cash (someone in there said that their only regular customers come from the car place next door), it's still an eminently affordable form of grassroots PR for a controversial and generally unloved development, masquerading as 'putting something into the area'. Chuck 'em a bun and they'll stop complaining about the car park monstrosity. If you haven't worked that out, you're a bit naïve. |