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A
ll sorts of things have been going on
at Honesty over the summer and
what a summer it has been so far,
at least in the south of England.
Outside events have been planned without a
thought given to whether the weather may
spoil things, normally unheard of.
This kind of weather brings a different
dimension to running and managing a food
business. The food offering needs to be lighter.
People don’t want to eat so much and dining
outside becomes a regular event.
At Honesty we have been making the most of
the sunny days and warm evenings.
We recently provided the food at the West
Woodhay Garden Fair which was a great
challenge for us in terms of numbers and
gauging what we thought people would like
to eat on a hot summer day at a garden fair.
It was huge fun, all the staff enjoyed it, as
did our customers.
Alex and his team at the Crown and Garter
have also been making the most of the good
weather, hosting some epic barbecues in the
beautiful garden, which are proving to be very
popular.
The British never take for granted the chance
to eat outside in the evening when the weather
is warm.
At the end of May we opened our new coffee
shop in Barrs Yard, Hungerford.
One of the things that has surprised me
about running a food business is that however
experienced one gets at opening new places,
there will always be teething problems.
Whether this arises from a piece of equipment,
a new member of staff or a new dish.
One of the real frustrations about pushing the
boundaries and striving for better is that there
has to be some trial and error. Occasionally we
do under-deliver, but this is just an unfortunate
consequence of what we are trying to do and is
by no means done because we don’t care.
Honesty Hungerford is in a beautiful setting,
it is offering something that no other place
in Hungerford offers, paying its staff a better
hourly rate than any other coffee shop in the
area and so I am proud of it, but will certainly
not be satisfied until the majority of the
customers are satisfied.
This year saw Honesty become a corporate
partner of Hampshire Fare, which is an
organisation that helps local food and drink
producers make connections with each other
and potential customers.
James Hussey is trying to get a similar
organisation off the ground in West Berkshire,
the aptly-named Proud of West Berkshire.
We, alongside many other local food
producers, are trying to help as much as we
can as it would be good for producers to have
the support in West Berkshire that Hampshire
Fare offers those in Hampshire.
It is hard enough as it is starting a business,
so one needs all the friendly help and support
one can get.
We are also very excited about moving our
wholesale operation to our brand new unit in
Turnpike.
I feel it really is going to take us to the next
stage. The kitchen and the bakery are going to
be based there, as are the offices.
The wholesale kitchen is a completely new
fit out, which will make the environment
much more pleasant for the wholesale chefs
and allow us to get on with developing new
wholesale products with which to tempt our
customers.
We are working really hard to expand
our wholesale customer base and look at
innovative ways of getting our products to our
customers without necessarily relying on the
traditional van to door method.
These are challenges that all wholesale
businesses are going to have to face but as we
at Honesty say if you are not moving forward
then you are just standing still and that is not
good for any business.
Here comes
summer
The sun doesn’t often shine for long periods of time in this country, but when it does
we like to make the most of it, says ROMILLA ARBER, looking for outside places to
eat and lighter, more refreshing snacks – and if they’re homegrown so much the better
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