The restaurateur behind Tomahawk Steakhouse has revealed plans to create scores of jobs, amid a mission to have a portfolio of 20 venues by the end of 2020.
Howard Eggleston and Tom Sturman opened the very first Tomahawk Steakhouse in Potto, North Yorkshire, in 2017, quickly drawing regular crowds with its Tomahawk steaks, Himalayan salt dry-aged beef and Yorkshire wagyu.
Its success has led to several more openings, including restaurants in Yarm, Newcastle Quayside and Hustwaite near York, as well as its most recent addition in Ponteland after acquiring the former seafood eatery The Catch.
Mr Eggleston and his team have also been seeking out locations for further Tomahawk restaurants around the region.
With hopes of owning 10 by the end of this year and 20 by the end of next year, sites have been earmarked in Newcastle, Gateshead, Morpeth and Wynyard, to join the next venue poised to open in Darlington this July.
Mr Eggleston said: “Opening the doors to the public in March 2017 at Potto we were hoping to do 20/30 people an evening and maybe 50 on a Saturday. It was a brand new concept with no track record and completely off the wall and in a small village in the middle of technically nowhere.
“We were absolutely blown away by the turnout from day one and the business has never looked back with most evenings being full and weekends we are looking at bookings being taken weeks in advance.
“Due to the phenomenal success of Potto and Tomahawk becoming a brand within the North East so quickly it seemed obvious to have a go at opening in a big city so we took on what has consistently been viewed as a hard unit to trade on the Quayside, previously the Jolly Fisherman in February 2018.
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"Again, it has been attracting the Geordie faithful from day one and it has gone from strength to strength in its first year.
“In the pipeline we are about to open in Darlington, Tommy Hawks takeaway in Yarm High Street is almost good to go, and we are working on a Brazilian Rodizio concept for Newcastle which will open towards the end of this year, and we are looking at sourcing venues in Morpeth and Gateshead.
“We’re going to be pumping hundreds of thousands into businesses in the local area through the refurbishment of venues and potentially employing hundreds at the restaurants over the coming years.”
Meanwhile, Mr Eggleston owns and runs a number of other ventures across the region, including The North Terrace in Newcastle and two Boat Club sites, in Newcastle and Durham.
He used to run a pan-Asian concept in Yarm, called the Lotus Lounge, which was converted into a Tomahawk Steakhouse.
Plans are now afoot to bring the bar and restaurant back to life, with a more steak-oriented menu.
The first site has now been secured in the former Black Olive unit in Yarm’s High Street, while two other units will follow, hopefully in Jesmond, Newcastle, and Durham.