Nathan Cain, a 26-year-old from Toxteth, Liverpool, has turned a cooking habit into a thriving trade, with customers travelling from as far as Birmingham to eat from his back-garden kitchen.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Cain launched his food business, Cheffed by Nay, in August 2026 after growing tired of what he called dead-end jobs. In barely two months he has amassed more than 20,000 followers on Instagram and now serves queues that he admits have “been crazy” from his home in one of Liverpool’s most storied neighbourhoods.
It is the sort of story this country does well and does quietly: a young man, a family member lending a hand, and a product people want to buy. No subsidy, no quango, no committee. Just enterprise.
From Shorefields School to a back-garden kitchen
Cain grew up in Toxteth and attended Shorefields, a school he described as genuinely diverse. He told the Echo he grew up around Jamaican, African and Arab friends, and that his cooking draws on all of it: jerk chicken and curry and rice sit alongside dishes he has tried from other traditions, including Arabic and Chinese cooking.
“I’m from Toxteth, and it’s a cultural area,” Cain said. “I grew up around here since I was a baby. I went to Shorefields; it was a really diverse school. I had a lot of Jamaican friends, African friends, Arab friends.”
His passion, he admits, was not much encouraged by the classroom. As a boy who was “not the best behaved kid”, he says he would slip away from lessons into the cooking room. The kitchen, in other words, did what the school could not: it gave him a discipline and a craft.
A business built on hard graft
Before striking out alone, Cain worked in a kitchen alongside a friend, where he created his first menu. When that job ended, he found himself out of work for several months. Rather than wait for something to turn up, he decided to have a go himself.
“I was out of a job for a few months. So I thought, ‘I’m going to do it for myself. I’m going to have to try,’” he said. “And I’m so glad I did, because it’s gone crazy.”
His auntie handles the serving and friends pitch in when they can, a family operation of the kind that once anchored every high street in Britain. The menu runs to jerk chicken, curry and rice, fish, salt and pepper boxes and even school cake, the nostalgic pudding that has become something of a Merseyside delicacy.
Local food influencers have documented their visits online, spreading the word well beyond Merseyside. Cain says he welcomes the scrutiny: honest feedback from people who cook for a living, he says, is worth more than praise from friends.
Why small traders matter
There is a lesson here that Whitehall would do well to note. Britain’s food culture has been transformed in recent decades by exactly this kind of ambition. As the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has recalled, British cooking went from a joke to an international force within a generation, driven by cooks who cared about the craft rather than the credential.
The tradition runs deep. The late Anthony Bourdain, as fellow chefs such as Daniel Boulud have remembered, made his name speaking “the language of cooks”, the plain vernacular of people who work the pass rather than the boardroom. Cain belongs to that lineage more than he may realize.
Small food businesses also remain one of the most reliable ladders out of unemployment, particularly for young men in cities where conventional routes have too often failed. Cain’s own account, bored at school, restless in dead-end jobs, is a familiar one. What is less common is the resolve to do something about it without waiting for permission.
What comes next for Cheffed by Nay
Cain’s ambitions are concrete: a shop, then more than one location, perhaps a food truck or a container site. He also wants to widen the menu beyond Jamaican food and move into meal preparation services.
“I’m going to be getting a shop, that is the aim,” he said. “I want more than one location, whether that’s a food truck, container, a shop. I want to go all in.”
He is grateful, he says, to everyone who helped him along the way, from his auntie to the community that has queued in his garden. But the last word belongs to a simple, old-fashioned principle: “It’s my turn to do what I love.”
Frequently asked questions
Who is Nathan Cain?
Nathan Cain is a 26-year-old cook from Toxteth, Liverpool, who runs the food business Cheffed by Nay from his back garden.
When did Cheffed by Nay start?
Cain launched the business in August 2026 after leaving a kitchen job, and it has grown rapidly since.
What food does Cheffed by Nay serve?
The menu centres on Jamaican dishes such as jerk chicken and curry and rice, alongside fish, salt and pepper boxes and school cake.
How many followers does Nathan Cain have?
Cain has gained more than 20,000 Instagram followers in roughly two months, according to the Liverpool Echo.