Two mums who shared a dream to run their own business have opened their own cafe in the island.
Samantha Dooley, 28, and Maxine Dalton-Baker, 41, are also good pals and work well as business partners.
‘We would like to show the public how having a dream to open a business can be made a reality with very hard work and determination,’ said Samantha.
The two women have just opened their first enterprise together. The cafe is called the Nutty Chef and is in Village Walk, Onchan. It is already going down a storm.
Samantha said: ‘We are also aiming to bring more trade to the Village Walk to assist the other businesses there to once again make it a vibrant shopping centre in the heart of Onchan.’
Both married women, Samantha, who lives in Lonan, and Maxine, who lives in Onchan, have a shared ambition to be successful in business.
Samantha has two children aged 10 and six at Onchan primary school while Maxine has a six-year-old at the school.
‘We have known each other for a few years and are firm friends,’ said Samantha.
Both women had worked separately in cafes but harboured an ambition to one day run their own place.
Samantha said that in the lead up to last weekend’s opening there had been a ‘mix of excitement, nerves and panic, a rollercoaster of emotions.’
Their fears proved to be unfounded as Saturday’s opening saw the Nutty Chef crammed full all day with people queueing to get in at times.
Douglas North MHK John Houghton was called upon to officially open the new business. ‘He used to be involved with a business as a sub-postmaster so we thought it would be good to have him along to open our business’ said Samantha.
And family and friends rallied round on Saturday to make the day a great success. For example,Samantha’s grandmother was recruited to wash the dishes - and there were plenty of them. Sales of home made cakes went through the roof.
Maxine’s husband Gary was a marvel as was Samantha’s other half Kevin.
Samantha and Maxine said the idea of the cafe is to play a vital role in Onchan community life.
They said they hit upon the name the Nutty Chef because it is in tune with their bubbly, friendly and fun view of life. They hope the cafe which includes a special kids corner, will be fresh and bright and appealing to the local community.
And business was again brisk yesterday (Monday) ‘It’s been brilliant’ said the delighted women.
The business’s facebook pages had more than 600 ‘likes’ by the time the paper went to press last night (Monday). One person wrote on Facebook after Saturday’s opening: ‘Lovely staff, very child friendly place, menu varied, carrot cake and tiffin slices are gorgeous and very reasonably priced’.