Taste
“I didn’t come into hospitality because I love it. But being in hospitality opened my eyes to having a love for it. Now, I love food and drink. I love going out to great places. I’m in a privileged position where I can mould my own business from inspiring experiences.”
Tell us about your background and what led you into hospitality.
Rajh. While at school, I thought I knew what direction my life and career would go. I was pretty academic and always thought I would be a doctor. I did my A-levels, then went to university. There came the point where I thought, this isn't for me, but I was three years in, so I carried on.
A friend wanted to join the Royal Marines as an officer, and I had to drive him to his interview as he'd written his car off. Whilst there, a lieutenant from the Royal Navy approached me about joining, which made me wonder, could I be an officer too? I brushed it off and then returned to complete my degree as planned, but the idea stuck with me.
I graduated with the plan to get into the Royal Navy as a warfare officer. I moved back home and needed to find some employment in the meantime. My parents were already disappointed with my decision to not continue with medicine, and I didn't want to live at home at their expense in the pursuit of this new career plan.
I saw an advertisement for work at The Old House Inn in a nearby pub. I did some bar work here and there at university but never anything serious. This was a part-time position as a front-of-house waiter; I thought it could take up to a year to get into the Navy, and I've got nothing to do until then.
I got the job, and I really started enjoying it. The place had just been bought, refurbished and reopened, so all the staff were new. I became the deputy manager, working full-time for about a year and a half at The Old House Inn. It's not what I planned to do, but I enjoyed it and learned much from the team.
I still went through the process, passed my interviews and medicals and got an offer to join the Royal Navy to become an officer. I then got ill and wasn't medically fit to start at the entrance time offered to me. I recovered, passed another medical, and continued my job at the pub while waiting for another intake date. I dropped my plans to join the Royal Navy, and I suppose that's how I committed to hospitality.
When did you first visit Rye?
Rajh. Around October 2014, I visited Rye and fell in love with the place. At that time, I wondered if hospitality was even for me or if I should try to be a doctor again. It was an idea that I didn't think about for too long. So do I try and join the Royal Navy again? I was 28 and too old to enter Dartmouth to become a Warfare Officer. I probably could have as a medical officer, but I didn't want that.
I opted to stick with hospitality but wasn't sure what my qualifications were, so I looked back to where it began. The Old House Inn, the pub where I started, was owned by a group called Cirrus Inns. It was the fourth place that they opened. When I contacted them three years later, they had over 20 locations. All of them are premium countryside inns and restaurants stretching across the south of England from West Sussex through to Somerset, with two restaurants in Chelsea, two in Fulham, and one in Mayfair.
I looked up to the operations manager from my time before, a man called Fabien, who was still there. I called him and explained that I was looking for a job where I could develop further in hospitality. He replied, when can you start? With my experience, I began by doing my part in running many sites, all the while learning from Fabien and attending key operations meetings and anything else he was involved in. I came to find my talents were in people and development, which proved rather useful to Cirrus Inns and their growth plans. Over the next two years, the company continued to grow rapidly, and just as quickly, so did my career within operations.
So, what brought you to The Plough and The Union Rye?
Rajh. The owner of our buildings is James Wilmoth, who, in early 2019, asked me over a chance meeting at the bar in The Plough if I'd consider being co-owner and taking control of running the business. We had both stopped for a quick drink on the way home from work; it couldn't have been any less planned. I loved what I was doing and where I'd ended up in my career, but I also wanted to be in Rye, and on top of that, I was already a fan of The Plough and Union as they were. A few months later, I handed in my notice and another three months passed before I was fully on board. While working my notice, I hired a manager for The Plough and a chef I wanted to work with.
“I loved Rye too much at this point, and I’d made a life here.”
I now had a beautiful pub in the countryside, The Plough, and a steakhouse, which was what it was at the time, The Union Steakhouse. I removed the steakhouse from the name, and it became The Union Rye, a modern British restaurant.
Whilst I was always better with people than with pints and plates, I started to develop more of a passion than ever for food and ingredients. I can't tell you that it started from growing up around excellent food at home or from travelling and experiencing all types of cuisine like many others in my position can. I remember my dad used to drink Negronis, and I thought he was the coolest man in the world. He was ahead of his time back then.
I've had mentors along the way, and no matter how far you get with what you're doing, it helps if you have someone to look up to. I've had many, including Fabien, and now I have James guiding me and sharing his knowledge of business management. That's given me everything I need to succeed as the employer I am now. Almost four years later, James continues to be my biggest support in realising my ambitions in this industry.
That first chef I hired was Chris Baguley, who came to us from The Gallivant in Camber to be our executive chef across both sites. He taught me a lot about how to respect produce and ingredients as we implemented more and more changes into the menus over the first few months. This then leads us to the Covid-19 pandemic and the first lockdown. The Union, having indoor space only, was closed. We opened up The Plough when it was possible to do so and started doing pizzas and takeaways to keep us going through the restrictions. One positive is that the first lockdown allowed me to stop, reassess and restart the businesses closer to what I wanted them to be. The Union underwent a refurbishment to reopen in the form it takes today. Chris, over this time, truly became a best friend to me. It was a time of restrictions on seeing others, and we were together most days, working and planning for a future beyond the pandemic.
In October 2020, Chris went sea swimming in Hastings. He was a strong and experienced swimmer, but the current suddenly caught him by surprise, and he tragically died. We suffered the loss of a friend and leader, who played a big part in our daily lives and the initial shaping of the businesses that I took on. It wasn't easy to think about moving forward.
By spring 2021, our menus moved to have only local provenance at the forefront. Today, our meat comes from Jamie Wickens in Winchelsea and with Frank Langrish, whose sheep and cows graze our surrounding areas, supplying much of what we get from him. Paul Hodges in Hastings brings us our fish, depending on what is landed that day. Shrub provides our vegetables; they only work with local farmers and growers, so our produce is always seasonal and doesn't travel far to get to us. So that's where we start with our ethos on our food. We also carried this forward to our drinks with Three Legs, who are just down the road from the pub, taking permanent residence on our bar, as well as the likes of Tillingham, Ham Street, Westwell, Charles Palmer, Gusbourne and many more East Sussex and Kent vineyards taking their place on our wine lists.
"When you pay this much because it's a locally grown cabbage, it's a lot of money just to put it as a vegetable on the side. So you've got to respect what you do with the dish and respect the cabbage."
With this principle in common, we focus on the strengths which make The Plough and The Union different. The Plough is a country pub with a great bar atmosphere, a cosy feel and fabulous garden views. It does fantastic food, but it's not a restaurant with a bar attached. The menu will always offer pub classics, and Sundays are for Bloody Marys and incredible roasts enjoyed at a leisurely pace.
The Union has a menu of small and large sharing plates. We have developed and built on it, which works well for us. We focus hugely on the service and proudly guide you through our daily changing menu and produce-led cooking. It's also about your dining experience; you don't have to share, and we don't just send plates out as they are ready, which many diners would associate with sharing plates.
Food and drink aside, it is important that we have happy employees who want to stay and grow with us in a job they respect and are respected in; while also receiving a decent wage and maintaining a good work/life balance. In charge of everyone is Nadine; she first applied for a job with us as the restaurant manager for The Union in April 2021. She came with a great background of working in restaurants and quickly moved up to general manager; then, with The Union in a better place, she moved on to The Plough. Nadine is now and has been the group general manager for some time, overseeing the operations of both The Plough and The Union. Then, heading our two kitchens, we have Paul and Ben, who have fundamentally shaped our food offers to be what they are now with their own brand on cooking and kitchen leadership. They've been with us for over a year and Nadine for almost two. There are few places that can boast these milestones in post-pandemic UK hospitality. I'm proud of it.
What's the future?
Rajh. A third place would be nice one day, one with rooms, but I'm not dreaming that far ahead – there is still a great deal I would like to achieve with The Plough and The Union. The Plough has accommodation above the pub which I hope to open up in time for spring, and we are set for a second phase of The Union, The Union 1.5, if you will. We've rebuilt the entire floor above the restaurant, which used to be a manager's flat, into a bar. It could be somewhere to come before you eat with us, but more importantly, it'll be a great place to enjoy drinking and gathering without feeling like you are an extra or afterthought in a busy restaurant; we'll need more people to join our team for that to work.
Rye is my adopted home; I came here for work, and there was no big plan to make this my home forever. When I moved here, I didn't know what a lovely place Rye was, and I lived on Mermaid Street, one of the most photographed streets in the country. It's such a beautiful place that I possibly took for granted at first. I love Rye, so I want to add to it by creating fantastic places for people to go.
"My career in the hospitality industry is led by management, the running of the business and people; the actual product of hospitality comes from the people we hire, train and develop."
Rajh Siva - Co-owner
The Plough Rye Udimore Road TN31 6AL
www.theploughrye.co.uk
Instagram
The Union Rye 8 East Street TN31 7JY
www.theunionrye.co.uk
Instagram