Two dads who began grilling burgers in their garden as a hobby are now planning to expand their journey at another popular pub.

Chris Pickup and Mike Sproston started cooking meats and other fast food more than two years ago after finding "a gap in the market".

They chose to set up a takeaway business as a mobile catering service known as The Grumpy Dads Grill in Sittingbourne in January 2021.

Since then, they have circulated their trade further by appearing at various events and festivals across the region, but are now determined to go one step further by turning part of The Warden Bay pub in Warden, near Leysdown, into a restaurant with their recipes - having already started at Millers Bar in Milton.

The Jetty Road site will see the pair, who both have full-time jobs away from the barbecue, turn the eatery into a more family-friendly destination with a new children's play area also on the cards.

When asked whether they ever envisaged their once low-key business becoming so popular, Mr Pickup said: "We didn't start this out to be a replacement business - we just had a really big interest in barbecue food and wanted to give back to people.

"All of this started shortly before the pandemic when the two of us were just guests at a local village fete, and we were looking around at some of the food there and thinking we can do this, but even better.

"So during lockdown I started cooking in back my garden and eventually when the rules relaxed, Mike and I jumped at the idea of setting up a business after getting lots of positive comments on Instagram, such as being asked if we could sell our food."

It was then the pair decided to branch out and register the business.

They bought a gazebo and had food inspections so they could start to cook at festivals and events.

Mr Pickup added: "As of today, we're now doing that quite often and have cooked at events like the Maidstone Tattoo Extravaganza and Iwade Rocks Charity Music Festival, and are due at ones like the Medway Beer Festival and Langs Fest soon.

"So we're doing that alongside other things like wedding receptions, whilst still selling our own takeaway food."

The decision to start their next chapter at Millers Bar and The Warden Bay pub was another step that the two couldn't turn down, however they acknowledge that it will remain a part-time outing for them both.

The 37-year-old continued: "We want to try and have a go on Sheppey after doing really well with the takeaways in Sittingbourne.

"Inside the pub they have a big commercial kitchen that we are going to take over, and we are going to turn just under half of their seating area into a sit-down restaurant - hopefully that will happen in the next month, possibly sooner.

"The owner of The Warden Bay has helped in allowing us to enter into a leasing contract with him to run our takeaways from there, but more importantly provide a sit-down family-friendly area.

"Ultimately we're called The Grumpy Dads Grill because we both have young children ourselves, so it's really important that we provide an atmosphere that is suitable for kids and parents - that's why we're going to build a play area.

"But where we are trying to transition into the restaurant and continue our takeaways, we don't want to take on too many events.

"We're trying to get people in to train them as grill and prep chefs, where they can then take over and handle the frequency that we have now, which should be fun to watch grow."

He added: "We feel there's a gap in the market for a dirty, hearty American burger and that's why we sell box meals like the Smash Box which has four burgers, fries, BBQ wings, onion rings and coleslaw in it - things like that have been really successful.

"But even once we're up and running at the pub, it will still be part-time for now.

"What has kept us going is having customers who themselves travel from the likes of Essex, Thanet and Faversham to taste our food, and that's why, having tackled Sittingbourne, we want to have a go at Sheppey and then in the future potentially branching down the coastline."