The owners of Liverpool’s beloved Woo Tan Scran restaurant are determined to thrive after closing the doors of their Lark Lane restaurant.
The popular plant-based chippy announced its surprise closure in September, telling enthusiasts on social media that they had made the difficult decision to close the store in an effort to save the long run of takeaways. Now, those who crave a dose of Woo Tan Scran can place a Deliveroo order after the owners have settled in the kitchen in the spouse’s place, Down the Hatch.
The vegan junk food spot Down the Hatch is a popular downtown spot tucked away in a set of flickering stairs on Duke Street. The place to eat has exposed brick walls, ambient lighting and is crowded.
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It has earned an army of enthusiasts in its own right, thanks to its extensive menu of prepared vegan homemade food. To the same team belongs Woo Tan Scran, who is determined to defend independent brands, convinced that they are the long term of the city.
Woo Tan Scran was founded through Jay Baker, Tim Leah, Conrad Sharp and Alex Woo in 2019, after spotting a gap in the Chinese vegan takeaway market. At the time of its release, co-owner Alex revealed the concept of the place to eat wine to drink a pint, and the quartet temporarily learned that it could be into something special.
Unfortunately, after a wonderfully busy lockdown period, the team made the difficult decision to incorporate tactics with their Lark Lane site. Down the Hatch co-director and Woo Tan Scran, and full-time cook Jay Baker (who told us, “He’s a little complimentary for me, I’m in the kitchen helping what I can”) explained that they had the idea they were on the road “forever,” but it wasn’t meant to be.
Speaking to The Echo, the 28-year-old businessman said: “We didn’t plan to leave; we thought we’d be here [at Lark Lane] forever, but it evidently didn’t happen because of everything that happened. “the world. Being on the track last week, the other people walking just beyond said they weren’t happy to see us leave, all so lovely.
“People bring their kids, obviously, we probably wouldn’t rate kids by chip, and we’re going to build relationships with all of them. You would see other people come with their partners, and then the next time they had a newborn, or were going to get married, we felt like we were developing with all of them.
“It was really a domino effect because we started the business as freelancers and everything evolved organically. We did Woo Tan Scran 3 years after Down the Hatch, and there was so much more at the time, it became the source of money for us to see new things, so we can watch Woo Tan Scran.
“Then came the pandemic, we killed her a little bit because there was nothing to do to order food. Woo Tan has been number one on Deliveroo for almost the entire pandemic, but the demise was somewhat due to his success, actually. We were so busy, the appliance was breaking down due to overuse and then we needed more staff – the license was wonderful to help pay the staff, then it stopped and the loans were wonderful, but obviously you have to pay them back.
“We replaced the menu, reduced the schedule, but we were paying for everything in the afterlife and there was not so much money after the pandemic, we could not stay awake. The last nail in the coffin, the emerging cargo of gas. electric power and agricultural products.
“It literally tripled and we weren’t making 3x more cash, and we didn’t need to triple our prices. We couldn’t accept the threat and lose everything we had worked for in the last six years: we all sacrificed a lot and it was very difficult last year. We feel trapped.
The team brought Woo Tan’s kitchen to Down The Hatch so that corporations can merge and the chippy can continue “as a true brand of recession. “Surprisingly, the abandonment of Lark Lane’s beloved site is a “relief. “
Jay, who lives in Aigburth, continued, “Letting Woo Tan pass as a kind of relief from the site; It’s not smart for me mentally, it’s a very stressful cause. As a business owner, you have to have your say: we couldn’t leave it just because other people enjoyed it.
“Everything we did ran on gasoline. I know so many business owners who don’t know if they need to remain a component of it; It kills creativity. It turns out the little guys are staying: smart corporations are filing for bankruptcy. “
For Woo Tan Scran, he is hopeful and optimistic. Jay said, “[So far] it’s going well, I think it’s going to be a blessing in disguise. Because we control and maintain a logo for other people to appear to love, we keep winning awards, we don’t need It was just a little complicated, but I was quite busy, we were also on Deliveroo and then we had other people coming in, phone orders and algorithms to manage, It was a lot.
“Now we just have one platform to manage and that makes it easier. There’s a lot less stress because there’s no overhead, so we had to make that sacrifice. “
Jay moved to Liverpool ten years ago, after his sister came here for university and suggested she follow him. After an era of travel, he “wanted the adventure to continue”, so he packed his “little Fiat Punto” and “never looked back”, calling Liverpool “the city in the UK”.
He is determined to protect independent businesses, believing they are “ahead of trends. “For Woo Tan Scran, the team hopes to “survive the winter and see what happens. “
For the long-term brand, Jay believes it builds on the long-term independent companies as a whole. He added: “Everyone in every community, we all want to push independents as much as possible, I think they help shape communities, you get the most productive concepts from independents. If other people can, if other people are willing to spend and faint for drinks, then they have to be independent, in a different way we will see them all close.
“I think Liverpool is the most productive city in the UK and it was declining in such a way before the pandemic, but when you keep wasting independents, it has an impact. All the most productive cities have the best independent bars, provide other people other features Independents are at the forefront of trends.
“If we can all come together as a community, we can save the independent community. That’s my hope, for everyone, not just for us. “
Woo Tan Scran can be ordered on Deliveroo by clicking here. Down the Hatch is located in the basement of 62 Duke Street, Liverpool, L1 5AA.
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