4 | Tees Business
BUSINESS BITES
GONG FOR MAKE-UP ARTIST
A Teesside make-up artist who swapped
building maintenance for beauty salons
has scooped a national title.
Gemma Rimmington from
Guisborough was named Freelance
Make Up Specialist of the Year at the
English Hair and Beauty Awards.
It’s a far cry from Gemma’s original
career – as a facilities manager
responsible for health, safety and
managing contractors.
Gemma said: “I was delighted to have
made it to the final so to find out I’d won
was just incredible.”
£250K STAFF TRAINING
Mobile Mini, a leading hirer of portable
site accommodation and secure storage
containers, has credited the quarter-
of-a-million-pound investment in staff
development as a significant reason
behind its growing success.
During 2016, the Stockton-based
company, which has 16 branches
nationwide, including Middlesbrough
and Sunderland, invested £250,000 in
training and developing its employees,
carried out over 1,729 training days.
Staff attended numerous courses,
covering topics including product
knowledge, sales excellence, customer
service, personal development and
leadership.
ENDEAVOUR’S CHARITY BOOST
Stockton law firm Endeavour Partnership
has donated £7,500 to Fairbridge House,
the Middlesbrough centre of the Prince’s
Trust charity.
Last year the team at Endeavour took
on the fundraising challenge, supported
by the Middlesbrough and Teesside
Philanthropic Foundation, who doubled
the donation to £15,000.
Endeavour raised the sum in a variety
of ways including sales of planners
featuring iconic local images and
photographed by Endeavour’s Nick Dent,
sponsored walks, bake-offs and the
Transporter Bridge challenge, which saw
15 of the team climbing the 210 steps to
the top of the bridge.
SSI WORKER BACK IN BUSINESS
A former steelworker has opened an
authentic Jamaican restaurant and
takeaway in Middlesbrough with help
from the SSI Task Force.
Mark Hill, 38, from Redcar, has set up
the business to bring the flavours and
cooking techniques from Jamaica where
he was born, all the way to Parliament
Road in Middlesbrough.
Irie Jerk, which received funding
through the Business Advice Start Up
Fund, serves homemade Jamaican food
that Mark cooks himself.
Left-to-right: Plum Jam owner chef Marcus Bennett,
operations director Adrian Rummel, Muse head
chef Paul Brown, Muse general manager Jason
Hutchinson and Plum Jam director Jonathan Hall.
Top seven hat-trick for
Plum Jam Restaurants
A
group of high-end eateries is
celebrating after three of its well-known
establishments finished in the top
seven of Teesside’s best restaurants.
In an exclusive poll among Tees Business
readers, Plum Jam Restaurants took the top
two spots, with Muse on Yarm High Street
taking first place, closely followed by The Bay
Horse in Hurworth.
Their Italian restaurant Cena, also on Yarm’s
High Street, finished seventh in the survey
among Teesside’s business leaders, just
behind Norton’s Cafe Lilli, Middlesbrough’s
Fork in the Road and Acklam Hall, and
Chadwicks Inn Maltby.
Owner chef Marcus Bennett said: “I am
very proud and it is a great recognition for our
loyal and hardworking team.
“We’ve got some great restaurants on
Teesside – and I think the key is we’re all
doing different things – but to see our three
restaurants in the top seven is very pleasing.”
Bennett, originally from East Harlsey in
North Yorkshire, first went into business with
partner Jonathan Hall, from Yarm, when they
took over The Bay Horse in 2007.
Muse followed in 2012, which is operated
by owner director Adrian Rummel, general
manager Jason Hutchinson and head chef
Paul Brown, and Cena was the third to open
nearly three years ago.
Currently, Plum Jam employs