Soon came time to step things up and hire the first AROT employees. Colin, who was the first employee and is now our Marketing Manager joined the team along with a number of full and casual worker. This allowed the one night a week operation to expand, doing a stunning Sunday Lunch, Tapas Night, Fish Friday’s, and Pie Night.

All of this was all done alongside various other festival pop ups and weddings in and around Hereford, such as a high town burger pop up, Rock the Farm Festival, and Shackfest. All this from a tiny kitchen, with no extraction, in the middle of Hereford.

Burger Shop Hereford opened its doors in November 2014 to queues out the door and a very satisfied customer base, fans were now able to get a stunning burger from Burger Shop 5 days a week.

As the restaurant grew so did the team, bringing on more people to cope with an increase in demand for the food. This heated up even more when acclaimed restaurant critic Jay Rayner came to town and wrote a stellar review for the Guardian, praising the burger shop for “a remarkable effort on doing the seemingly simple, a gold star and a tick”

The 5 day a week operation was expanded to 7 days a week with regular specials such as the Kimchi Burger, Chimichurri Burger, and Cauliflower Cheese Croquettes gracing the tables of Burger Shop Hereford.

This bookshop was refurbished and given the AROT treatment, exposing the bricks, using concrete to make a stylish bar and building a floor to ceiling bookcase to pay homage to the bookshop it once was.

The name was kept as The Bookshop and opened with Sunday Lunch & Steak Thursdays.

The Bookshop really allowed A Rule of Tum to expand and offer a different style of food, in 2017 they won the coveted Observer Food: Best Sunday lunch of the year award, the first time it was won by a restaurant outside of London.

Expansion continued with tapas on Fridays & Saturdays, but the message from Herefordians was clear; steak was king. From here it was steak nights from Thursdays to Saturdays, with local Farmer Tom’s grass fed beef flying out of the kitchen quickly gaining The Bookshop a reputation in excellent food.

People loved the festival and the following year things were stepped up even more attracting 4000 visitors to Hereford to sample the offerings. Along side the festival a zine was launched to showcase what Hereford has to offer, with articles on suppliers, makers and restaurants.

Hereford Indie Food has since taken a few years out, but is set to return for 2022.

Taking the well loved and established Burger Shop brand the group leased 3 railway arches just around the corner form the busy Foregate Street Station.

The arches were disused and in need of a mountain of work, an ambitious refurbishment project started and in April 2017 Burger Shop Worcester was born.

The new restaurant was a vibrant space in the heart of Worcester and it soon grew to have it’s own loyal fans of the brand as well as holding a preppier kitchen in the middle of the 3 arches. Now AROT had somewhere to operate its pop up and events over the coming years.

Rupert joined the directors and as things ticked along Dorian and Edwin grew plans for the future, the most pressing issue being the rent increases on Burger Shop Hereford and The Bookshop restaurants. A jump in rates may have meant relocation, but instead a new project to purchase the buildings and secure their future was born.

With a need for capital A Rule of Tum turned to the people, running a very successful crowdfunding camping and raising over £500,000 in a matter of weeks.

This allowed for an expansion of the kitchen and therefore increasing what they could cater for. The Bookshop grew from a 4 day-a-week, to a 7 day-a-week operation introducing brunch, coffee, bar, and cocktail options to the already successful steak-led evening menu and award-winning Sunday Lunch.

The (new) Bookshop opened its doors once more in September 2019, championing Hereford as a county of great food suppliers, restaurants, and makers.

With a need to get more customers in a whole wall was taken out and building started to double the size of the restaurant space and the kitchen out into the car park behind the restaurant.

Working through driving rain Rupert, Dorian, and Edwin shovelled concrete for the floor before it dried, a testament to their nature of being incredibly hands on and getting a lot of the work done themselves.

In November 2019 the reimagined Burger Shop Hereford restaurant opened, the new bigger space being a much better setting for the fast-paced burger joint.

A large part of the of the year was spent with the restaurants closed and only offering takeaway, but our loyal customers as well as government support kept AROT going and work was started to make sure AROT could not only survive, but thrive after lockdown.

The Yard was converted from the car park behind the Hereford restaurants bringing in tables, chairs and fantastic tents to transform the space into an urban oasis.

AROT: Dark Kitchen was built from shipping containers and launched with an Indian street food inspired menu, later turning into the Barabeka brand.

The Yard opened in July 2020 was an instant hit. Having a large outdoor capacity and new offerings helped take AROT through the summer of 2020 and into the winter.

Serving noodle bowls and sides from the mind of head chef Pete Dovaston the following grew quickly over a series of lockdowns and Covid restrictions.

Maneki Ramen was originally called Lucky Cat Noodle but after a legal challenge on the name from none other than Gordon Ramsay himself, we were forced to change it in 2021.

A brand new restaurant in Arch 44 opened in July 2021 and the Maneki brand has gone from strength to strength ever since.

The Bookshop operated a home delivery of Sunday Lunch kits, Valentine’s meal kits, and Mother’s Day boxes.

Both Burger Shops ran on a skeleton crew, focusing on giving hours to the staff who did not qualify for the Furlough Scheme.

Maneki Ramen offered heat at home kits as well as a few pop-ups for these kits in Hereford.

Barabeka served curries from the shipping container kitchen in The Yard.

Proudly not a single member of staff had to be let go throughout the pandemic.

An opportunity came about to transform Barabeka into a pizza concept, something which was felt might suit the fast paced nature of The Yard better.

Leaven Pizza was originally started by Jon Stead (one of the founders of A Rule of Tum) and Lara Castro-Griffiths. They started Leaven to share the food that they love with their community, to make pizza and do good. AROT bought the Leaven brand from Jon + Lara and turned the shipping container into a pizza concept ran by Mike Fullard.

Leaven Pizza opened in The Yard in November 2021