The Swine - The Next Chapter

We bought The Greedy Pig in 2012. We'd always wanted a restaurant but we only had enough money for tiny sandwich shop at the top end of town. A tiny sandwich shop, with one griddle, one oven and no customer toilet. We'd splashed out on a coffee machine but that meant no money for a shiny new sign, so we kept The Greedy Pig name. And so we set out to cook the best breakfast in Leeds up on North St. On Saturday mornings queues would form outside as people waited to get a table in our tiny little cafe. Our reputation became much larger than our 14 seat eatery as we got mentions in the "best brunches" articles in national newspapers. We funded a customer toilet by opening for a "Pie Night". Again the people came and queued around the block. And we got the cash to knock down a wall so that customers could get to our "facilities".

This allowed us to open evenings and become a real restaurant. We've done things with the Swine that we never imagined possible. We were the first in Leeds to put Ox Tongue on a menu. We heavily championed a "nose to tail" ethos, knowing where your produce comes from, reducing waste by using all of the animal. But part of that also meant going meat free now and then and we became the only evening restaurant in town to have a regular monthly vegetarian menu. They became the nights that booked out fastest much to our surprise.

We've prided ourselves on writing accessible menus. We want our food to be enjoyed by everyone. Whether you are a seasoned diner or taking your first steps on your culinary journey. All are welcome at the swine.

But we've done what we can with a tiny kitchen, one oven and a griddle. It's time to grow again. We've found the perfect new home but it needs a lot of work to become the restaurant that we always dreamed off. 

The new space will have a sperate kitchen with room for a larger team of chefs, including an apprentice. We've long wanted to employ an apprentice to show the next generation of chefs what this industry has to offer. But we never felt the cramped environment was suitable. We will extend this to Front of House as we believe that this is can be just as much of a rewarding career as Chef.

We will have a private dining room. No more saying no to requests for small groups of diners celebrating their special events. The thought of this special space gives us so much joy!!!

The kitchen will have a dish washer!!! Stu can't get over the excitement of this! Other expenses will include building a bar, installing extraction and general out lay on new equipment for a leaner faster Swine!

But the thing that we really want to happen is a ground level accessible toilet. And that's why we took the decision to crowd fund. Please help us achieve our dream and become a restaurant for everybody. One that will make Leeds proud.