During an episode of the Sliding Doors podcast, Sunday Brunch chef Simon Rimmer once described the “most terrifying and life-affirming moment in his entire life”, which led him to make his wife Ali a major promise.
“The bank gave us an ultimatum,” he explained in an episode that originally aired in October last year.
With a one-year-old daughter and a third restaurant draining their finances, the couple faced dire straits.
Simon and his wife have been married since 1996 – almost three decades. They have two children together: Hamish and Flo.
And, speaking on the podcast, Sunday Brunch star Simon opened up about the “big, big, big mistake” he made when his daughter, Flo, was a baby.
Sunday Brunch star Simon Rimmer on his ‘big, big, big mistake’
“The bank gave us an ultimatum,” he explained. “We basically had a sell-by date. If the restaurant didn’t sell it would foreclose and we would lose Greens [his other business] as well, which also had a second charge on our homes.”
The bank gave us an ultimatum.
Simon opened his first restaurant, veggie restaurant Greens, in 1990 – a year after the Hillsborough disaster, at which he was present. He opened his second restaurant, Felix, in 1994. A year later, an opportunity arose to buy a place in Fallowfield, Manchester. He pounced on it, and later realised it was a “big, big, big mistake”.
Star’s promise to wife Ali
“It meant that we were theoretically on the brink of losing our businesses and our homes,” he said on the podcast in 2023.
And he had a one-year-old daughter, to boot.
“It was hideous, absolutely hideous. We completed on the sale two days before our end date for the bank. I remember going home and Ali was in the front room holding Flo.
“I remember bursting into tears and said: ‘I promise you that will never ever happen again.’ It was the most terrifying and life-affirming moment in my entire life.
“We spent too much money on the fit out, and we were wrong about the location. We had a honeymoon period of the first couple of months, busy, great. What we were doing was decent.”
‘We were hemorrhaging money’
“Fallowfield didn’t really ever take off,” Simon went on. “So we were quickly haemorrhaging money. The other two businesses were supporting the third one, then Felix had a little bit of a downturn because we were putting so much focus on the business that wasn’t succeeding.
“We ran out of overdraft facility, we had big bank loans.”
Flo was one, so she needed a lot of attention. And Ali had gone back to work, which she “really hated” since she wanted to be at home with their daughter.
So, between them, they decided that Ali would take time off and be a full-time mum, so Simon could “work every hour God sends”.
Eventually, they made ends meet. Simon’s portfolio now includes more than a dozen UK restaurants, and more besides.
Simon Rimmer’s journey as a chef began in Manchester in 1990. Altogether, his restaurants are now worth more than £25 million. You can find them in Liverpool, Birmingham, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere.
Earlier this year, he was handed a blow as his beloved veggie eatery Greens was forced to close its doors.
“This is a very sad day. After 33 years of running Greens in Didsbury, we’ve unfortunately had to close the door,” he said on social media.
“Our landlords have increased our rent by (within) the region of 35 per cent, the cost of raw materials, the cost of heat, light and power, employing people and general food costs have meant that the business unfortunately has become unviable.”
Read more: Sunday Brunch star Simon Rimmer ‘heartbroken’ as restaurant closes after 33 years: ‘A very sad day’
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.