When Tim Christensen wanted to open up a restaurant devoted to the type of eateries you would find along coastal Mexico, he was told ‘no’.
Well, at least at first he was, but more on that later.
Tim’s culinary journey is one that sounds eerily familiar to most of our ears. He has hit all of the usual checkpoints, from traditional French training to a catalogue of concepts all driving towards every young chef’s big dream: to open their own place.
Over the past 5 years, Tim has gone on to establish not one, but two of the finest Mexican restaurants in Sydney’s Northern Beaches: Alma, in Avalon, and its little sister, St Alma in Freshwater.
We invited Tim to speak to us on our brand new podcast series, RAW, to tell us how he went from young chef with a vision, to a multi-site operator.
This is the story of the Alma Group.
Beginnings
Tim Christensen started off how many budding chefs do: training in traditional French techniques. Covering most, if not all, of the crucial techniques to master your chosen cuisine, is the gold standard in culinary training.
But it does have a tendency to make a chef yearn for something a little less rigid—a little more casual, doesn’t it?
Tim was no different and he quickly drew up concepts for pasta shops and bagel spots, thwarted only by his own high standards.
“…in saying that I also had concepts drawn up for…a New York style bagel outpost at one point that I wanted to put in Manly, but I just couldn’t get the bagel recipe (right).”
Thankfully (for us), Tim fell into Mexican cuisine and experienced a watershed moment in his career.
“I kind of fell into working this job at an American Mexican joint in Manly. Before this, my understanding of Mexican food was super basic.
“I started just going deeper and deeper into the cuisine and I soon understood it was just as rich and diverse as anything we’re trained in—any French or Italian—it just kept going.”
Tim soon teamed up with his business partner, Jack Leary, pulling him from the dark side of Sydney real estate into the slightly brighter landscape of Sydney dining. Seeing a gap in the market for contemporary, casual Mexican food (especially in the Northern Beaches circa 2015), they put together their plans and signed a lease for a location in Freshwater in 2016.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.
“We actually signed a lease in Freshwater back in early 2016, with the landlord eventually turning around and explaining to us that ‘Freshwater doesn’t want a Mexican restaurant’, refunding our deposit and ripping up our lease.”
For most, this would prove a difficult mental obstacle to overcome—impossible even—but Tim and Jack are made of sterner stuff.
“That’s when we kind of started looking up and down the beaches, trying to find something that would suit, and we found what is now, currently, Alma.”
The location was perfect. Nestled in a side street a stone’s throw from Avalon’s picturesque beach, the old building was in dire need of some love. With broken windows and the roof caving in, the boys got to work bringing the place up to scratch.
One month in Mexico
But there was one part of their dream—the most important part—that couldn’t see justice with a trip to Bunnings and some late night construction. To truly give their new place the respect it deserved, they had to go to Mexico.
“We ended up doing four weeks over in Mexico. Mexico City, Oaxaca, and on the east coast in Tulum.
“I think we ate out at some 36 restaurants in (that) four-week period…
“…and we were there, not just for the food, but the overall dining experience, how that equated and how we could bring that over.”
Such dedication to truly understanding the food has put Tim and Jack in good stead. There aren’t many operators around that can claim to have sampled their chosen cuisine at the source to the extent that they can, especially Mexican, an area which, in Australia anyway, is somewhat represented by chains and cheap imitations.
“I guess it gives you a sense of authority as well, right? Because you actually know what you are serving and what you’re bringing back is like.”
The trip also helped solidify the bond between the two business owners. Too often a venue can come undone by the inevitable bickering and friction that comes with a business partnership behind the scenes.
Teething problems
That’s not to say they’re perfect.
Disagreements will always happen.
“At the beginning we were both trying to do everything, doubling up on the jobs and stepping on each other’s toes, and we had to sit down, eventually, and just work out, ‘all right, this is gonna be your path, you lead this one, I’m gonna lead this one,’ and, and that was one of the best things we did.
“After about the first year, (it) was just splitting those responsibilities and staying in our own lanes, and that’s really helped us to grow because we’re not doubling up on anything and we can both focus on what we’re good at.”
Popular but unprofitable breakfast service
Initially, Alma offered three services (breakfast, lunch and dinner), but they quickly realised that such an offering was not only going to eventually lead to a drop in profits, but also a deviation from the focus of their food.
The breakfast and lunch menus leaned a lot more into the modern Australian vibe than anything else, an easy nook to slot into for any Australian chef. And although it had its fair share of devoted followers, the breakfast service simply wasn’t giving back into the business as much as lunch or dinner.
The tough call was made to cease breakfast, made all the tougher with the knowledge that the staff (including a family member) would suffer the most as a result.
“We broke down all the wages and we thought, you know, we’re gonna save 45% on our wage bill and we’re only gonna lose. I think it was 20, 22 or 23% of our revenue…so we made the decision.
“We went around to a little cafe around the corner, jumped on the phone, jumped on the laptop…repurposing (staff) where we could. But at that point, I think we had (when we moved to the one concept) about 30 extra staff that we didn’t need.”
“It was not, um, it was not the easiest day for us.”
“Jack’s mum came over from Wagga. She had a successful cafe over there, so she came over to help us run, start and grow this breakfast side of the business. And it was, it was difficult. I still love her…
“But I guess looking back, we held onto that concept for her, and I guess I didn’t push probably as hard as I should have because of that relationship. And yeah, it was hard ‘cause we kind of had to fire her and repurpose her at the end of it.
“She completely understood, once we laid it out and we put it there. And she did a few dinner shifts and then moved on.”
The future
Such is the life of a hospitality business owner.
But don’t for a second think that Tim and Jack are the cold-hearted types. They did what they had to do to make the business work and they know that part of that is making the tough decisions, but also treating your staff with respect and kindness.
Rebuilding hospitality’s infamous workplace culture
A testament to this is their incredible staff retention throughout a period of time where the industry was seeing record shortages.
“Me being in hospitality, especially back in the nineties when there was just no respect, especially for young chefs, everyone got treated absolutely horribly, and Jack always brought this idea into the business, of why don’t we do things differently? Why don’t we treat people with the respect they deserve? We know that we can’t function without them, let’s make sure they know that.
“Now it’s led to this past where we have a 95% staff retention. We only lost two staff over COVID, and over the last two years, we’ve only lost three.
“It’s been the only way we’ve been able to open Freshwater…by having this kind of cult following with our staff where people will pick up the slack and do what we ask them, because we’ve always treated them that way.”
The opening of St Alma in Freshwater was something of a full-circle for Tim and Jack. It resides in the same spot where their initial lease was torn up in 2016, proving that perhaps Freshwater does want a Mexican restaurant after all.
Listen to Raw Podcast
Listen to the full interview with Tim Christensen on making the hard calls for their brand to survive and thrive.
And subscribe to the RAW podcast series to get the latest episodes every Wednesday.
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