1 day Ago By [email protected] (Olivier Vergnault)
One could be easily forgiven for thinking that an industrial estate on the edge of a growing town on the way to isn't the best location for a trendy burger cafe, but you'd be wrong. Taking up a unit on the Quintdown Business Park next to a solar panel company, Rem's is the skateboard-themed New York style burger, loaded bagels and breakfast burrito cafe, keeps on making a name for itself - and not just with the locals but beyond the Tamar too. "We had a review by the Food Review Club and on the back of that some chap came down to Newquay and visited us specially which is quite nice really," Remick Thomas explained.
"We started out in a container on the edge of what was a muddy field next to the housing estate being built. I started feeding the builders working on the houses and it grew from there." When the owner of the site started building the business park on the edge of the new homes, he offered to set up a unit for Rem to expand into.
The head chef and creative mind behind the project went into business with the landowner and Rem's was born. He now employs four people all year round and business is booming. "It was called Newquay Hot Box when it was in the container," the 34-year-old said.
"But when we moved in here three years ago, people kept saying 'let's go to Rem's' and the name stuck." Remick is a Newquay lad through and through. His Welsh parents left Wales for the surf and when Rem was 10 they also left Cornwall's surfing capital for Europe's surfing capital so they moved to the French Basque Country where Rem spent six years.
The young dad to a 15-month-old boy returned to Cornwall and decided to turn his passion for food into a business. He enrolled at college on a cookery course and had his first job in the hospitality industry as a kitchen porter in a Newquay hotel. "We were cooking for the builders when the estate was coming out of the ground," he said.
"We built a reputation as a place where they could come every week to get some quality food at an affordable price. That's been our ethos throughout. "My partner and I just love food and feeding people.
I wanted to bring the New York burger vibe to Cornwall. It would have been one of many in London but Cornwall is a bit behind so it works here." Since moving into a more permanent unit, Rem's has become a locals' favourite and not just with the builders who stop off at crib time on a Friday but with families, and that's rain or shine.
"It was completely booked up for Mother's Day," he explained. "I think Rem's has turned a leaf. We still get our loyal builders who may be coming in once a week but we get a lot of families too.
Since we have this food review the word has started to spread out up country which is great. "We mainly focused on breakfasts but we serve food all day long using fresh local ingredients. It's our take on the fast food thing but with better and fresher ingredients.
We try to keep it affordable too so it's not just seen as a treat once a month but something people can do regularly and enjoy some great food. "We have some regulars who come here every week because they know the quality of the food is very good and it is affordable. When after Covid it got crazy busy and all the prices went up, we stuck to our guns and kept it affordable.
We want young families to be able to go out and have some food that doesn't cost a fortune." Rem said he has no plans to expand into some sort of franchised chain with Rem's outlets all over the country. "I'm not here to take over the world.
"It's about doing one thing and doing it well. I don't want to expand and the quality suddenly drops. It's a job for me for life where I come to work and I'm happy to prepare good wholesome food for people and people are happy to come and enjoy it.
I want people to remember having a good experience and come back.".
