Maximum Diner

Book excerpt: Join Christopher Nye on his hilarious journey to become the self-styled Rocco Forte of the Road to Eastbourne...This is a book about a dream. The dream of running a restaurant. In Uckfield, East Sussex.Well, okay, Uckfield didn't actually appear in the dream. But for Christopher Nye it was the perfect choice: a small town, but not too small; a town crying out for an American-style diner; a town without a McDonald's.So here's the story of how to make it big in small-town Britain. How to find the right premises (if not quite the right location); how to motivate teenage staff while giving work experience to a haute cuisine chef; how to stay out of casualty when things get a bit 'Goodfellas' on a Friday night; how to keep your puppy hidden from the Environmental Health Inspector; and why you should never, ever, hire an Elvis impersonator on the cheap. Oh - and how to deal with McDonald's, when they realise they need an outlet in Uckfield after all.Maximum Diner is a tale of all this, served up with the crispiest fries and the strangest milkshakes on the south coast. Read it and laugh aloud. But keep that dream alive. For this might all happen to you.