A Friday evening out with colleagues after work, for a drink or a meal, is always fun. It is even more special when our team members from our Innovating for Growth project are invited by one of the businesses we support. A few weeks ago we were invited by Amie Mui Lee, manager of the Naturally Chinese Restaurant, to taste some of the specialities, made by her husband Chiu Hoang. It was a very special treat indeed.

Amie from Naturally Chinese

The Naturally Chinese Restaurant, located in Surbiton, was co-founded by Chiu and Amie. Their restaurant offers authentic Chinese cuisine and dim sum, free of Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG). They believe they can make a difference to their customers by offering them a healthier and more nutritious option, simply by using fresh ingredients. From my experience, their dishes do not need any artificial additives to enhance their flavour. On the contrary, they are far more delicious as well as nutritious.

Amie joined the Innovating for Growth programme in June 2013. She participated in all the advisory sessions and the workshops with great enthusiasm. She was very happy to receive expert advice and then implement her growth plan, specifically developed for her business needs. We received very positive feedback from her about the programme. She even recommended Innovating for Growth to one of her business relations, who has applied and recently joined the programme too.

Following the advice she received while in the programme, Amie is in the process of generating funds through crowd funding for her plan to create the first healthy Chinese Restaurant franchise in the UK.

We hope to enjoy Naturally Chinese dishes and the hospitality of the owners and their staff again very soon, and we wish them good luck with their growth plan.

If you are an exciting and ambitious London-based business and want to receive £10,000 worth of funded bespoke advice and support for your business, apply for the next Innovating for Growth cohort by 5 December.

Irini Efthimiadou on behalf of Business & IP Centre