Joy Restaurant’s Sarah Baldwin on sticking to her guns and redefining business success
Sarah’s unique approach has seen her successfully steer her business through a six-month Covid closure, a separation from her partner and the cost-of-living crisis. This year, Sarah’s significant achievements and contributions of the national culinary scene were recognised when she took home the Creative Thinker Award at Queensland’s 40 Under 40 Gala Awards.
Joy Restaurant is not your typical restaurant, as anyone who’s dined there will tell you.
“At Joy we seat ten guests at a time, four days a week and everyone that dines will receive the same menu,” Sarah explains.
“Going to Joy is about the entire experience. The door remains locked until the minute your reservation begins, you share a bench with every other guest dining, your view is the kitchen (as is 50% of the space), the music is fun, the lights are dim, there is art work on the walls, stories to tell, foraged ceramics and vibrant food.”
Unusual it may be but since the restaurant opened in 2019 it has received accolades and acknowledgements – including being a finalist for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards 2020 – and remains booked out four months in advance.
As the cofounder, owner and head chef, Sarah was the architect behind Joy’s unique model, which she crafted with the aim of building a space that would nurture creativity and sustainability for her as a chef, while also providing guests with a memorable fine dining experience, but done differently.
“I look outside of growing my business only financially,” she says. “I look at what will enhance my business creatively, what will contribute to my industry, what will provide my guests with an experience worth spending their money on and what will help me grow personally and professionally.”
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Another priority of Sarah’s is the wellbeing of her employees and staff. “This is such a simple concept to me,” she says. “As a business owner, I cannot have my dream job, run my dream restaurant and service all our guests without an employee. I am asking for someone to come into the space I created to help me deliver an experience to guests that I have made up in my head. How are they going to do this if they feel overworked, under-appreciated, too tired or aren’t supplied with everything they need to do the job well?”
“I made a promise to myself that anyone who works at Joy will leave better than when they started.”
Despite the success, the business, and Sarah, have faced some challenges – including a six-month Covid shutdown and the dissolution of Sarah’s marriage, which was also a business partnership.
“With the announcement that Joy would reopen post-Covid without Tim, it was written in many publications that the ‘chef of Joy’ had left, that ‘Despite the chef leaving, Joy will reopen’. Not only did I have to navigate opening a business post-Covid, I had to also prove that I am and always was the chef, despite being a woman.”
Overcoming these trials, Sarah says she learned the most important things were to stick to her guns and trust her intuition.
Though, she admits the external validation of being nominated for a 40 Under 40 Award was not unwelcome.
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“Making it onto the 40 Under 40 list is something I never thought I would ‘fit’ into. I had always thought it was made for suit-wearing corporate types. Turns out, it isnt like that at all! The list is filled with such a diverse and creative bunch.”
“Seeing Joy Restaurant carve out its own little space on that list is one of the most proud moments I have had,” she says. “I created the business and often stress that I am not ‘doing business right’, or focussing too much on my shortcomings. Seeing Joy Restaurant on that list allowed me to take a step back and appreciate how far I have come.”
Being further recognised with the Creative Thinker Award, which recognises those who demonstrate creative thinking in any aspect of their business or endeavours and use innovation progress, came as a complete surprise to Sarah.
“After the 40 under was announced, I settled into my chair and exhaled thinking the adrenalin rush for the night was over,” she says. “I have always thought of myself as an arty-farty, to be recognised as the Creative Thinker in a room full of peers was very affirming.”
Initially reluctant to “toot her own horn”, Sarah credits her partner Lauren with encouraging her to put herself forward during the 40 Under 40 process.
“She has taught me so much about taking advantage of situations in my orbit and the power of putting myself out there, saying yes to things that scare and challenge me,” she says.
“There is the little voice in my head that immediately after being nominated thought ‘wow, young Sarah would never have imagined being in this position’. I want to put myself out there so other young business people can see what a successful business person can look like and that they don’t need to be your typical business person… they don’t even need a business degree!”
Sarah is continuing to push her boundaries and chase her goals, with work on her first book currently underway. She says she would encourage people to take from her story the importance of taking chances and trusting their instincts.
“I would remind them that there are going to be things in life that scare us regardless of whether we take risks or not,” she says. “As humans, fear is something we can all handle and process. You might as well feel fear because of something you are doing to achieve your dreams. Failure is never absolute. If there are parts of your business idea you aren’t sure how to approach- find someone to help you. The lessons are all out there. None of us know what we don’t know until we are right in the thick of it. There is always someone who will help guide you, as long as you remain teachable.”
To see the full list of this year’s 40 Under 40 winners, head here.