There was dismay when it was announced that the immensely popular Salt & Pepper was having to leave the Arndale Market. Winding queues from the modern Chinese food vendor had become a familiar sight since it was opened by siblings Chloe and Cash Tao in May 2019.
However, after long discussions with the council over improving the extractor fans at the stall ran out of road, Salt & Pepper will be leaving the market on April 2. This is not the end of their journey though, with 'promising' plans in place to open their own restaurant in the near future.
Salt & Pepper's journey did not begin in May 2019 either. This is a story of food being passed down from generation to generation, staring in Hong Kong before coming to Manchester city centre.
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Chloe and Cash's grandparents moved to Salford from Hong Kong in the 1960s, working in restaurants before saving up to open their own Chinese takeaway.
"They didn't have much when they first moved over so they opened the takeaway. It was quite rough where they were and they didn't speak much English then but they worked really hard on it," Chloe says.
A few years later their father also moved over from Hong Kong and worked in the takeaway, where he met Chloe and Cash's mum. Following in their parents' footsteps, they also opened a takeaway, this time in Bolton, with their next venture after this in Radcliffe.
"As soon as we were old enough we became their staff," Chloe laughs, "It was good pocked money. It really taught us a good work ethic, they all worked so hard for what they made and made a lot of sacrifices. But it showed that hard work paid off.
"They took so much care every bit of cooking they did, everything had to be perfect before it was served. They cared so much about every customer.
"It used to get so busy at the weekends which was tough work. But they always had a good relationship with the customers , they made a big effort to know everyone that came in, and that's something we try to do as well."
Chloe, 26, studied art at university, designing the Salt & Pepper logo herself, with Cash moving to Sheffield to study for four years. "I couldn't find any authentically made wings in Sheffield like our parents made," Cash, 28, says.
When he finished studying in Sheffield, Cash moved back to Greater Manchester to learn how to cook in the takeaway in Radcliffe. There, he learned recipes passed down from his grandfather, before teaming up with Chloe to follow the family tradition and open their own place.
"We've grown up visiting the city centre and noticed there weren't a lot of places to get this style of Chinese food," Chloe says. "We've grown up with it all around us so it felt like something we could definitely do.
"There was definitely a niche for this in the city centre. You could only really get this type of food in China Town," she adds. "There was definitely space for accessible and modern Chinese food in Manchester."
The siblings took the most popular dishes from their family's takeaway and used recipes dating back to their grandfather as inspiration. "We centred it around those chicken wings," Cash says. He was taught to cook them without batter, giving them a unique flavour, with their sticky sauce straight from their grandfather's recipe book.
Manchester City Council gave them their spot in the Arndale Market in May 2019, and the rest is history. "Since then it's been absolutely crazy," Chloe says.
"We've had customers who've been with us since the first week we opened all the way until now. We like to think we know most of our regular customers too, like how our parents used to know theirs.
"It's great to know the names of the people you're serving, we'll spot people in the queue and start getting their order ready before they've done it because we know what they want."
The Covid pandemic brought difficult times to the business, as with the whole hospitality industry, but Salt & Pepper could open as a takeaway after the first lockdown. They turned to Deliveroo so they could deliver food, something their parents had never wanted to do themselves.
"Our parents never liked the idea of delivering food," Chloe says. "It was too impersonal for them, they preferred to meet and greet all their customers."
Chloe and Cash's parents have retired now and have sold the Bolton and Radcliffe businesses. However, they still offer a helping hand to Chloe and Cash whenever needed.
"They are definitely really proud of us," Cash said, "it's still 100 per cent a family business."
"Although they always told us never to get into the food industry," Chloe adds. "Any time we ring up stressed or panicking over something they say 'we told you it would be like this'!"
Salt & Pepper announced on March 13 via its Facebook page that their market stall would be closing on April 2. This has come after multiple conversations with Manchester City Council, who run the markets, about the extraction system at the takeaway.
Chloe said the council asked them to pay upwards of £91,000 to install a new system, but when an agreement couldn't be reached, they were told their lease would not be renewed. Manchester City Council has said the takeaway posed a 'health and safety risk' as they were 'so successful' that the current extraction system isn't 'capable of handling the level of smoke that originates from their stall.'
While this is a setback for the siblings, the pair are upbeat about the future of the business. "To be honest, we've probably outgrown this place," Cash says.
"While it's obviously not ideal having to find a new place, the extraction system was not good enough here. It could be a blessing in disguise for us."
Salt & Pepper currently also operate in Black Dog Ballroom on Church Street in the Northern Quarter, just minutes away from the Arndale Market. They currently serve at Black Dog from 5pm, when the market closes, to 9pm, but they will operate from 12pm to 9pm going forward, and Chloe hopes their loyal lunchtime customers will know where to find them.
"We've had an incredible journey so far," Chloe said. " The amount of customers we’ve had and the great feedback is something we are really proud of. We are really sad about what’s happened but we are excited to go into the future now. It's always been a dream of ours to open our own restaurant.
"Our main priority was always keeping our staff employed which we are able to do with having the Black Dog Ballroom kitchen in place. They are like our family, we've been rubbing shoulders with them for too long in that small kitchen to let anyone go, it would have been heartbreaking.
"The support over the last few days has been overwhelming, it's been so busy too. So many people have offered kind words with people trying to know where we’re going to be.
"This is why we love Manchester and why we want to continue serving the great people here. It's not easy trying to find somewhere to move into, but we've seen somewhere very promising recently."
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