The owner of one of Newcastle's most stunning restaurants has revealed how she came to England with just £20 in her pocket but now runs a multi-million-pound business loved by footballers including Jonjo Shelvey.
Kim Kaewraikhot is the founder of Thai restaurant chain, Chaophraya, which offers incredible views of Newcastle from its base on the rooftop of Eldon Square. The 53-year-old opened the branch in the city five years ago and in that time has seen her fine dining restaurant become a hit with Geordie diners and Newcastle United players.
Kim and her partner Martin Stead, also own the Thai street food restaurant chain, Thaikhun, with the pair running an incredible 17 restaurants across the UK that employ around 700 staff. But it's taken Kim a lifetime of hard work to reach the dizzying heights of owning a multi-million-pound hospitality empire.
Sharing her incredible story with Chronicle Live, Kim told of how she grew up poor in the rural village of Khiri Mat, in the Sukhothai province of Thailand, before making the courageous decision to leave her family home to find work in Bangkok at the age of just 11.
"We were very poor," Kim said.
"I lost my father very young and my mother had to look after six children. My family taught me how to be strong from day one.
"When you had to eat you had to find food in the jungle as we had no money. We had no electricity, only candlelight.
"I didn't have any paper, pens, or uniform for school."
In Bangkok, Kim found work as a nanny looking after three children as well as cooking for staff at a clothing factory, earning just £3 a month. But by observing the workers Kim was able to teach herself to sew and was promoted to working on the factory floor making clothes.
Aged 22, she opened her own garment factory in Bangkok but later changed track and opened her own Thai street food stall in 1993. There, she spent six years selling Pad Thai from the side of a busy road before a chance encounter with a customer changed her life.
"I was selling street food when Martin came to my stall," Kim said of meeting her partner.
"I asked where he was from and he said Yorkshire in England. I ended up going to England on holiday with my sister to see him in 1999 and we decided to stay for six months.
"I only had £20 so I got a job as a kitchen porter in Leeds. [One day the] head chef said that when an order came in I had to cook it.
"The customers loved it so much that I ended up becoming the head chef!"
Kim and her sister went on to open their own restaurant in Leeds but later Kim decided to leave the business. Instead, she went on to open her first Chaophraya restaurant with partner Martin in 2004.
In the years that followed, Kim and Martin opened branches in Manchester and Liverpool, as the chain grew in popularity. But despite her success, Kim remains true to her humble beginnings and financially supports her mum and family back home in Thailand.
To this day, her most popular dish is the original Pad Thai recipe she perfected from those early years on her stall.
"A lot of people asked me, 'how did you learn to cook?' and I say I learned from my family," she said.
"I still support my family and was able to buy my mum a house in Thailand. I am proud of what I have achieved.
"When I came to England I couldn't speak English, I could only count from one to 10. But now I have businesses all over the UK."
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