From Finance to Food: N5 Kitchen's Suzie on Building a Business with Her Best Friend

N5 Kitchen began in a kitchen in Highbury. Quite literally. Founded by university friends Millie and Suzie, the business started with private dinners and canapé parties, before growing into event catering, shoot lunches, a much-loved café and, now, an expanding office catering business.

Here, co-founder Suzie talks leaving finance for food, why a series of late-night drives planted the seed for their first café, and the unspoken rule that has kept a business built between two friends remarkably drama-free.

AH: Let's go right back to the beginning. How did N5 Kitchen actually start?

Millie started it. She was basically a one-woman band, doing private cheffing jobs, dinner parties, canapé events, that sort of thing. We'd met at university and a lot of our friends would help her out on the bigger events, serving and doing whatever needed to be done.
At the time, I was working in finance. I started helping Millie more and more, and then one day we were making food together and she said, "God, it would be so nice if we could actually do this together."

I was desperate to change careers and move industries, so we had a very loose business meeting and decided to go for it. It really was as simple as that.

AH: Finance to food is quite the career pivot. Was leaving ever a difficult decision?

I think I had just reached the point where I needed to get out. I really wanted to change industry, so when Millie suggested doing N5 together, the timing felt right. There wasn't this huge, elaborate business plan. We decided to start and then we got on with it.

AH: What did those very early days look like?

It was just me and Millie, and we did absolutely everything. We made the food, we did the deliveries, we worked the events. We were also working from Millie's mum's kitchen in Highbury, which was incredibly kind of her. That's actually where the name N5 Kitchen comes from. N5 was the postcode where we started.

From there, we just slowly built things up.Then COVID arrived.

AH: How much did that change the business?

Up until COVID, we'd mainly been doing events and suddenly, obviously, events stopped. We tried meal deliveries and food for people at home, but eventually reached a point where we realised it wasn't necessarily working. There were a few months where we were really just hoping things would change.

Then we started getting enquiries for photoshoot catering. It completely blew up. So many shoots were happening and, because everyone suddenly needed so much more online content, there was huge demand. We ended up being incredibly busy for the rest of lockdown, which was obviously brilliant for us, although it felt quite strange at the time.

AH: The café feels like a very different proposition from behind-the-scenes catering. Where did the idea come from?

Millie and I used to have these very long drives to and from events, often late at night after we'd finished working. We'd sit there saying, "Imagine if we did this" or, "Imagine if we had that." We always talked about having a café together. We'd say, "We'd make it so cute." One very specific thing we always imagined was having this enormous display of flowers on the counter.

A couple of years later, we just thought, why don't we actually do it?

AH: Naivety can be a wonderful thing.

It really can!

But we'd also spent years doing catering behind the scenes. Particularly with photoshoot catering, we'd make all this food, send it out and never really meet the people eating it. We wanted the opportunity to see people enjoying the food and actually have those conversations face to face. That's exactly what we've got from the café, which has been so lovely.

AH: There is a very particular N5 aesthetic. Steel and tiles sit alongside flowers, wicker and brown paper. Where did that come from?

I'm glad you noticed the combination because that's exactly what we wanted.

Catering is still the main part of our business, so we love bringing elements of a commercial kitchen into the space. The steel-wrapped worktops and tiles have that feeling, but then we balance it with the warmer, more homely details. With this new space, we tried to recreate a lot of the feeling of the Highbury café. The menu roll is almost exactly the same, the curtain is a replica and we have the same steel details. We wanted it to feel recognisably N5.

AH: What has been the best part of watching N5 grow?

Seeing our regular customer base build has been so lovely. We've created these relationships and you suddenly realise there is a proper community around something you've made.The other part is our team. As we've become busier, the team has grown and everyone is just so great. They really make N5 Kitchen what it is. Without them, it wouldn't be anything.

AH: And the worst?

The early starts! If I could change one thing, it would probably be that. But I think one of the hardest things is spinning so many plates, particularly now that we're setting up here while still running the Highbury café and the catering business. Having two sites is new for us, so there's naturally a lot going on.

AH: Which rather begs the question: why add another space into the mix?

We'd reached a point where the Highbury café had built this really loyal customer base and, equally, we had brilliant photoshoot catering clients who kept coming back to us. It felt like we were ready for the next stage of growth. We'd already started working with some office catering clients, delivering breakfast and lunch directly to them, and we felt there was so much more scope to grow that side of the business.

We wanted a physical presence in an area with more offices, partly to introduce N5 to a new audience and show people what we do. That's really how the new space came about.

AH: Why this particular part of London?

We walked around quite a few areas. Holborn, Old Street, towards Shoreditch, and then we came here.

There are so many design and architecture offices around here, and it still has these lovely smaller side streets. It feels central without having buses roaring past you constantly.We also wanted to find somewhere where we could offer something different. In other areas, you've already got lots of the bigger lunch names. Here, it felt like there was room for us.The space itself had this old shop sign outside and a real charm to it. Inside, it was essentially an empty, clean room with a beautiful wooden floor. It was a great blank canvas.

AH: Your menu changes every day, which is either a very good way to keep people interested or a logistical nightmare. How does it work?

Our chefs all get together for menu meetings and it's actually such a lovely scene. Everyone gets the cookbooks out and brings ideas they've been thinking about.Someone might suggest the starting point for a dish and then someone else says, "Oh, we could do it with this dressing," or add something else. Everyone gets really excited about what they want to make.

We create a different menu every day for two weeks and then repeat the cycle. It means there's a real variety, but I also love the idea that someone comes in thinking, "I wonder what's for lunch today?" There is so much choice in every part of life now. Sometimes it's actually quite nice to have two mains and simply choose one.

AH: What is the N5 philosophy when it comes to food?

Everything is made from scratch. We want the food to feel balanced and hearty, but also like something you wouldn't necessarily make yourself at home. It's that Friday feeling when perhaps you had a few too many drinks after work on Thursday and you want a really delicious lunch. It should feel like a treat, but you don't want to leave feeling horrible and heavy afterwards.

The ingredients arrive incredibly fresh. We can place an order with our suppliers until around 10pm and it can be with us by 5am the next morning. Breakfast is made and sent out, then lunch is cooked and off it goes. The whole process is quite amazing when you think about it.

AH: And what is the N5 signature? I should disclose that our office has developed a slight obsession with the cookies.

The cookies are definitely one! We also do doughnuts with lunch at the café on Fridays, which people have really come to know and love.
Our fried chicken is another big one. People go nuts for it. We do different versions, perhaps a Milanese or something with sticky rice and more Asian-inspired flavours. Those are probably our big hitters.

You founded N5 with Millie, who was already a close friend. What's it actually like building a business with your best friend?

We've never really sat down and discussed how we manage it. I think we just have this unspoken agreement that we don't let things get to us.
If one of us thinks, "That was really annoying," we let it go straight away. We don't hold onto bugbears. It has honestly been very smooth sailing.

I also think we both value our friendship the most. Friendship comes first, before anything. We've known each other for years and we tend to tackle problems in a similar way. Sometimes we approach things as friends rather than business partners, and I actually think that's a good thing.

AH: Do you have clearly defined roles within the business?

Millie is incredibly efficient. Once we've decided we're going to do something, she'll immediately put it into action and get the ball rolling.
When we decided to do the new space, she was straight out there searching for venues.

I probably come in behind her and get everything lined up. I'm the one making sure the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. That's quite a good representation of how we work together.

AH: So, twelve months from now, what would you love N5 Kitchen to look like?

We'd love the office catering side of the business to be much more established and to have more regular clients there.

I'd also love to see our kitchen grow. Whether that eventually means we need another kitchen site, who knows? I know simply saying we want to expand what we're already doing might not sound like the sexiest answer, but we're so pleased with how everything is going. We want to keep building on it.

AH: Finally, what would you say to someone with an idea for a food business who is still sitting at their desk, thinking about making the leap?

Just start.

You can talk and think and plan endlessly. Obviously planning is important, but you can do it forever. The best thing is to physically start somewhere. Meet someone. Do a stall. Whatever that first step is that makes the idea real, just do it. Then the next thing comes from that, and you slowly build. Don't be scared. If you truly believe in what you want to do and believe that what you're putting out there is good, then good things will come from it.