By Nicola Walker
You might say that Brandon Van Rensburg, owner of West Coast Hospitality, knows a thing or two about chicken –in fact he goes through two tons a week – that’s hardly surprising when you consider he owns the successful Tempura restaurants and takeaways in Scotland.
Since opening his first Tempura restaurant in Ayr in 2020 he has opened a further four Tempura restaurants and takeaways across Ayrshire. Last year he was deservedly named Emerging Entrepreneur at our very own Scottish Bar and Pub awards and this year he collected the DRAM Casual Dining gong.
It’s not hard to see why he has been so successful as he has that ‘old school’ hospitality charm. However, things haven’t always been easy. Recently Brandon shared a video to the companies 50,000 social media followers to mark his one year of sobriety after a battle with alcoholism. In the candid video Brandon said he was “recovering loudly as it might just help someone” He went on to share, “A year ago my life had become unmanageable, and I was in a very bad place. However, I built up the courage to ask for help. Alcohol and addiction have so much stigma attached but there is lots of help out there for anyone struggling. It doesn’t matter, where you are from, who you are or what your background is. Alcoholism can affect anyone, and you shouldn’t suffer alone because, you can change your life for the better.” This openness about his recovery echoes the strength and courage he has shown in his business decisions. So how did a boy from Johannesburg, South Africa end up in Scotland?
Brandon arrived in London in 2003 on a gap year, when he was 18, and after only six weeks, ran out of money, and was ready to go home. However, he got talking to some people in a bar, and discovered there was a live-in job going around Loch Lomond. He immediately borrowed some money and got on a bus to Glasgow.
He says, “I started as barman/KP at the Rowardennan Hotel and I was working seven days a week, but I was just pleased to have a job. It was such a cool place, and I was meeting people from all over the world.”
He got to know Ally McKever who owned the Rowardennan hotel. He says, “Ally would come up at the weekends and come into the bar. On my days off I used to wash his boat for him. I say boat, but it took me about 10 hours to clean it, it was more like yacht! I built up a great relationship with him, but I also worked very hard and was promoted to supervisor.
“After a year, I knew I had to go back home to university as I had promised my dad I would. I went to study psychology but every holiday I would come back to Scotland and work. I would come for 3 weeks and do 90 hours a week.”
He realised his heart lay in hospitality and not University and after only a year at Uni he confessed to his dad that he had been offered a great opportunity in Scotland. He explains, “After a year I sat my dad down and told him I had been given an opportunity to be a General Manager in Scotland. Ally McKever had bought McGregor’s Landing and offered me the role. I was only 19 at the time.
He moved to Scotland to work for McKever Hotels around the country before returning to the Rowardennan Hotel. He says, “I loved Loch Lomond, but it was just so remote. I realised I wanted a job closer to the city.”
He then joined Burnhouse Manor in Ayrshire and spent six years there as General Manager before joining Buzzworks.
Brandon reminisces, “I had an interview with Colin Blair in 2011 and I ended up with the General Manager job at Elliots, now Vic’s & The Vine, in Prestwick. Buzzworks was the biggest step in my career as it was such a big company, and they were leading the way in Scottish hospitality. Over the next few years, I worked my way up to Operations Manager and then Head of Openings. I loved my time there and I learnt my trade properly through Buzzworks and Colin in particular.”
It turns out that Buzzworks are responsible for a lot more than that! When he was working in Elliots in 2014 Brandon met his wife, Rachael. He laughs, “Rachael was drunk and trying to dance on a table. I went to chuck her out and then changed my mind when I saw her! Our son is even called Elliott because of this!”
The couple now have three children – Brandon’s stepson Charlie (13), Elliott (8) and two-year-old Reeva who he affectionately calls ‘Reeva the Diva’! Brandon left Buzzworks in 2020 after lockdown gave him the time to reassess his future. He says, “I really enjoyed lockdown. My son Elliott has additional needs, and it meant I was there to give him extra care and attention and have some family time. A lot of what I do today is with Elliott in mind. I want to make sure I’ve built something big, so the foundation is in place for his future, and I know that he’ll always be looked after.”
He continues, “I always had aspirations to open my own place. I knew tempura was popular in Ayrshire as it was one of the top selling dishes at Buzzworks venues. So, I came up with this idea for ‘Tempura’ restaurant. I knew if I didn’t do it then, I would never do it. So, I handed in my notice to Buzzworks. I think a lot of people thought I was crazy at that point, but I was determined I was doing it.”
Brandon opened Tempura with partner Mark Blake, 32, who he had worked with at Buzzworks. He reveals, “Mark and I have always had a good relationship. I’ve known him since he started as a glass collector in Elliots. I told him my business plans, and he asked if I would consider letting him get involved. My initial thought was no, but letting him come onboard was the best decision I ever made. We’re not just business partners, we are brothers. We’re very similar in our ethics and morals but different in what we are good at. Mark is great with people and is the face of the business whereas I’m more behind the scenes growing the business – it just works well.
“We opened the business with only £20k and did nearly all the work ourselves. Colin Blair was such a big support – he gave us furniture and told us just to pay him once we had the money. To have someone like that supporting us was amazing.
“We officially opened in November 2020 and went back into lockdown five days later! Luckily, we already knew that we could easily switch to takeaway, and that’s what we did. Then things went insane. We were fully booked within an hour every day, there was even people complaining they had phoned us 300 times! I honestly don’t think we’d be as successful as we are today without lockdown. People were just fed up with the usual takeaways and it gave us the time to really perfect our food without worrying about restaurant service.”
It was at this time that Tempura also started to take social media by storm!
Brandon explains, “People underestimate how important social media is. It is a massive part of our business, and we just focused on having fun with it. When people placed an order during lockdown we would ask them their favourite song. Then, when they came in to collect it, we’d have their song playing for them, a smoke machine going and their food waiting! People must have thought we were mental, but it was great fun!” After lockdown it was clear to Brandon that the demand for takeaway wasn’t going anywhere.
So, exactly a year later, they opened a Tempura takeaway in Ayr. He says, “The takeaway just flew. That’s the reason we chose to expand the takeaway side of the business first. It’s also a more profitable business due to less staff, less overheads and shorter opening hours.
“We then opened a Kilmarnock takeaway in 2022, the Prestwick takeaway in 2023 and the Troon restaurant in April this year. We have also recently opened a huge production kitchen so that we can prepare everything centrally. This is a separate business called West Coast Catering.
“Currently we use two tons of chicken a week and it is all fresh and hand cut. All of our venues place their orders on an App, and we deliver directly to them. This gives us control over stock, wastage and it makes much more financial sense for us. As we grow, we also want to look at making our own desserts and mass producing our sauces as people always ask to buy them.
“The quality and consistency of our food is very important. We could do things cheaper, but if it costs us a little bit more to do things the right way, then so be it. That comes from my time at Buzzworks, they did things right and they didn’t cut corners. This will always benefit you in the long term because it gets you return custom.”
There have still been challenges though. For example, two years ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, chicken and oil prices doubled almost overnight. Brandon says, “You can’t foresee something like that, and you can’t suddenly double your prices for your customers to account for it. That year we just set out to make sure we didn’t lose money, even if we didn’t make a profit. Mark and I both reduced our wages, and we were just extra careful with our other costs.
That was the right decision, we survived and the following year we had a very healthy year. You’ve got to make sure you respond quickly to these types of challenges. It’s been hard at points and there definitely is easier ways to make money than hospitality – you have to love it!
“However, high risk and high reward is my philosophy. You need the right idea and the right attitude, but if you are willing to put the effort in then there is no reason that you can’t do it” Brandon adds, “In four years we’ve gone from having three staff to 70 staff. On our first day of trading we made £170 and this year we will turnover in excess of £2.5 million.
“I’m very ambitious but sometimes I have to remind myself that we are doing well, and we don’t need to open a new venue every week! Even though I love the buzz of an opening, Mark keeps me check. However, in five years’ time I would like to see our turnover double again.
“The brand is so well known in Ayrshire now and I think there is still so much opportunity for expansion here. You can watch this space for Irvine, Kilwinning and maybe even Glasgow at some point. I also have a few ideas for new concepts, and I would like to expand eventually out with the Tempura brand.”
It’s not just expansion that Brandon gets excited about. He is clearly just as passionate when it comes to giving back to the community.
He tells me, “We raised £35,000 last year for charity and will hopefully do the same this year. We let the staff choose charities close to our hearts and we give and do as much as we can. Hopefully we can make a real difference.
“We also did a talk at my son’s school recently and feedback was amazing. So, we posted on social media offering more of our time and we got about 350 requests. We could only choose four at the moment, which is difficult, because in an ideal world I’d love to be doing this kind of thing twice a week.”
I came away from the interview feeling inspired by Brandon’s work ethic, big heart and respect for others. I couldn’t help feeling that if anyone deserves success it is him. I have absolutely no doubt he will be stamping his name on Scotland’s hospitality scene for a long time to come.
