head chef said that when an order came in I had to cook it. "I only had £20 so I got a job as a kitchen porter in Leeds. 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 asked where he was from and he said Yorkshire in England. "I was selling street food when Martin came to my stall," Kim said of meeting her partner. 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. But by observing the workers Kim was able to teach herself to sew and was promoted to working on the factory floor making clothes.Īged 22, she opened her own garment factory in Bangkok but later changed track and opened her own Thai street food stall in 1993. 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. "I didn't have any paper, pens, or uniform for school." "When you had to eat you had to find food in the jungle as we had no money. My family taught me how to be strong from day one. "I lost my father very young and my mother had to look after six children. 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.Ĭhaophraya owner Kim Kaewkraikhot cooking at her Newcastle restaurant. READ MORE: 'Everything happened very quickly' - Newcastle personal stylist helping millionaires after Debenhams redundancy But it's taken Kim a lifetime of hard work to reach the dizzying heights of owning a multi-million-pound hospitality empire. 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. 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 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 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.
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