Carleigh Bond

So I spent five years working evenings and weekends, never really had much time for family or socialising.

It's really not a good quality of life.

I absolutely loved what I was doing and I loved feeding people.

It became difficult.

People assume that when you close down in hospitality, that it's because you haven't got enough sales.

But we were mega busy.

And the reality is that at the end of the month, once all the bills have been paid, there was nothing left for me.

It never got to a stage where I was able to pay myself back.

I knew for a long time that it wasn't working.

I felt like I couldn't stop.

I was always thinking about it.

Even if I had a day off, it was always still on my mind.

And it just sucks the life out of you.

All of my money just went on other people's wages, taxes, paying suppliers.

I decided to close because a chef that was working for me went on holiday.

So of course I had to pay a holiday pay.

But then I also had to go into work and do the shifts that she would usually do to cover her.

So that week, I think I worked 50 hours and I still didn't have any money to pay myself.

And it was a moment where I just thought, I literally can't do this anymore.

I decided to just pull the trigger.