Meet The Professionals : Kitty Man & Ken Chow

Name: Kitty Man & Ken Chow

Title: Husband & Wife Co-owners of Ken’s Kitchen

Company: Ken’s Kitchen

Education: Kitty: University of Leeds – Chinese & Business; Ken: University of life!

What are the main things you do in your role? Kitty: Front of house – trying to keep a calm exterior whilst manically paddling. Ken: all the cooking, that’s why it’s called Ken’s Kitchen!

What are the first three things you do when you get to the work in the morning? Tea, tea and more tea! We probably should be called a tea shop rather than a coffee shop, Ken drinks tea by the pint glass!

How did you get your start in your career? Kitty: In my past life I worked in finance, but Ken has worked in food his whole life, from his time in Australia and Malaysia and then London, and Ken’s Kitchen is our first project together.

What is your favourite thing about what you do? Making people smile.

What is your least favourite thing about what you do? Anything to do with paperwork!

Where do you work: rented space, serviced office, owned office, co-working space etc? Why? Rented space. We did also look into market stalls, but luckily, we came into this space.

How important is your work environment to you? Our job is quite fast paced at times, but it is important for there still to be a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.   

Do you prefer working open plan or individually? Why? Open plan – it’s the best when we’re working well as a team.

If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing? Would be great to be a full-time mum to our 3-year-old, but not sure that would pay the bills…

What piece of advice would you give to someone starting in the business? Just to go for it, you never know unless you try. When we started Ken’s Kitchen it was our first time running a business for ourselves, and we weren’t sure it would work, but we’re still here!

Did you have a mentor? We have been really lucky to have had the support from my parents and Ken’s mum. It’s truly a family business, the combined food industry experience from them is probably over 100 years!

Is there a motto or quote that you live by? We really pride ourselves on customer service and satisfaction, it’s really to treat others how you would like to be treated yourself.

What keeps you awake at night? Josh – our potty-training son!

If you were a superhero, what power would you want to have and why? Would be nice to be able to be in different places at the same time, maybe would be able to make more of a dent in my to do list!