Chiryl Newman’s story is about an entrepreneur who defied the obstacles in her way and chose to operate in what is considered a man’s domain.
Entrepreneurs and other businesspeople paid rapt attention as Newman told of the path she took, building the successful Champers Restaurant which she owns and operates, during a forum organized by the Entrepreneurship Foundation at The Plantation recently.
She shared lessons learnt along the way and imparted useful information intended to help entrepreneurs avoid certain pitfalls in business.
Newman had been working as a tour representative with a West Coast travel agency when the offer to buy Nico’s Champagne and Wine Bar for $50 000 was made to her. She borrowed the $5 000 deposit from two friends, found one female bank manager who had “faith and trust” in what Newman was attempting and,as she put it, “that was the easiest 50 000. After that it got a lot harder.”
She told of joining with a male partner and threwing herself into building a business, enhancing the former wine bar operation by changing the focus to a dinner operation, with lunch as“the by-product.”
Meanwhile Newman said she continued to work at the travel agency to secure a monthly income while devoting her free time to her bar and restaurant.
“I left home most mornings at five o’clock, went into the restaurant did a lot of the cooking, baked the desserts, went to work, came back to the restaurant at lunchtime because our lunch trade had picked up, worked through my lunch hour, then went back to the travel agency,” she revealed.
Juggling two jobs in the first eight years Chiryl admitted “was difficult”.
She eventually gave up her travel agency job when the opportunity arose to open another restaurant on the South Coast.
Champers was opened after eight years of running Nico’s, and two years later, the two Champers partners split.
“Most partnerships in business are like a marriage, they either go the distance or they don’t, and we realized that we both had different ideas,” she told an engrossed audience.
“I am a workaholic. I eat, sleep and drink Champers.
For my partner it was not the same thing; it was a business,” Newman explained.
She shared details of her subsequent battles with banks to secure financing when she was forced to purchase her own property for business, the lack of confidence shown by bank officers who had no faith in her ability as a sole female business proprietor and the assistance given by another female bank manager who did.
Champers is today one of Barbados’ leading restaurants employing 65 people and Newman advised the Entrepreneurship Forum, “When you are running a business, when times are good make sure you pay your bills, make sure you pay your suppliers and that you develop a relationship with them, because when times get hard, they are going to remember that you paid them on time . . . and they will stick with you”.