One of the island’s best-known eating spots has new owners and a new name after being bought by one of its long-serving staff members and her husband.

Tiffany Davis and her husband, Richard, have bought Bermy Cuisine and have a range of plans for the Hamilton restaurant, which they have renamed as Teaffany’s.

Mrs Davis started working at Bermy Cuisine in 2008 and the relationship with her husband, who was a regular at the eatery, started after she was involved in a bike accident.

“I had talked to Tiffany many times and she was very friendly. She ended up having an accident, someone had knocked her down,“ said Mr Davis.

“I said come to my place so that I can take care of you while you are recovering and it went from there.”

Was it love at first sight? “No,” laughed Mrs Davis. “I was working here. He had been coming to Bermy Cuisine for many years before 2008. He was a regular at the restaurant. I was confident he would take care of me and he did, definitely.”

They married last October after Mrs Davis’s protracted divorce from her husband in the Philippines finally ended. They took over at Bermy Cuisine at the end of last year.

Asked why they wanted to buy the business, Mrs Davis said: “It’s what I am used to now, managing the place. I thought I might as well take over.”

Mr Davis added: “She had been working for the previous owner, who wanted to retire. She was running the place for several years and now was the time to take it over.”

Admitting that his knowledge of the food business was limited to “eating in restaurants for many years”, Mr Davis, who ran his own fire systems company, said: “It is very different, but business is business. Tiffany knows that side of it, otherwise I would not have got into it.”

On future plans and changes, Mrs Davis said: “We have changed the name but also hopefully we’ll be doing table service. The menu will be a bit more of a western cuisine, Filipino cuisine, some Indian food and some pasta.

“We are planning to open on some evenings as well, do some barbecuing and have a Filipino night with karaoke.”

There are also plans for a student discount day and the introduction of loyalty cards.

On challenges in the future, she added: “Making sure the business is stable and keeping the regular customers happy. They are happy, enjoying the new name and have been very welcoming and supportive.

“What is behind the name? It is based on my name and people like to have a tea or a coffee.”

But Mrs Davis added: “A lot of kids that I used to serve would tell their parents, ‘I want to go to Tiffany’s restaurant’, they don’t know it as Bermy Cuisine, they know it as Tiffany’s restaurant.”