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Award-winning chef selling restaurant to become teacher
Alex Hayes is swapping flipping burgers for teaching biology as he puts his award-winning restaurant up for sale.
Hayes hopes that Squeezed will remain and grow but says that now is the time for him to walk away in order to begin a new career in the classroom.
The restaurant in Wapping Wharf is profitable and is being sold as a going concern through Knightsbridge Commercial.
is needed now More than ever
Selling Squeezed is not a decision that Hayes, 43, has come to lightly. But he admits that its continued success over the last seven years has been somewhat unexpected as his first restaurant, El Guapo on Baldwin Street, lasted only a year.
“You could call this the seven-year itch,” said Hayes on a recent morning on a short break from prep work for the day’s service which can sometimes see as many as 500 burgers being sold in a weekend.
Hayes has a zoology degree from the University of Bristol and has previously taught hospitality at City of Bristol College, admitting that was where he got the buzz for teaching with his wife also in the profession.
“Teaching is a wonderful profession and something I hugely admire… There’s just a joy in working with kids. They keep you young.
“And I feel like I have achieved what I’ve needed to achieve here. I became a chef. That wasn’t a plan. I opened my own restaurant. That wasn’t a plan.
“We’ve done a really good job at it but I know I’ll be working for another 20 years and I want to just do something else…
“I need that mental push. I really do. This has always been a creative job but I think I have more to give.”
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Squeezed was originally going to be Lemonade until Hayes received a polite but firm legal letter from lawyers acting for Beyoncé whose 2016 album was also called Lemonade.
So after a successful crowdfunder, Squeezed was born in a single shipping container focussing on burgers, fries and homemade lemonade, a triumverate that continues to this day.
Those burgers and Hayes himself are now multi-award-winning, with his framed certificates from various podium places at the National Burger Awards pride of place on the walls of the restaurant on Gaol Ferry Steps.
Hayes coaches the Ashton FC under-13 football team, whose shirts also feature the Squeezed logo, which is something else that has spurred him onto his new career.
But teaching will only start once Squeezed has been sold and he completes a teaching qualification.
“This has been an amazing experience,” Hayes added. “Would I do it again? Absolutely. From personal growth to the people I have met and worked with along the way, and the oportunity to do other things like catering weddings.
“It has been wonderful and I want to leave it at this place in time where I can say that we came and we did this and it was a good thing. I will forever be proud of it…
“Squeezed wan’t necessarily meant to happen. There hasn’t ever been too much forethought. I’ve gone where the wind has taken me.
“I could sit around and think about it too much but let’s do it, let’s put the business up for sale, let’s just go for it and I’m sure it will pan out. I’m an optimist.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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