Four weeks in.....

And what can we say? We opened the doors to our new venture Wivenhoe Kitchen on 26th September and had no idea how it might be received. We wanted to sell plant based food, at a reasonable price, and in recyclable containers. As far as possible we wanted to use locally sourced ingredients and wanted the whole venture to have as little a negative impact on our environment as we could. Obviously our friends and families thought it was a good idea but then, they’re biased! And that’s what friends and families do, they support and encourage you (if you’re lucky enough to have the sort of people around you that we have).

We decided it would be a good idea to only open on one day a week to start with so we could gauge interest and demand. That also fitted with our other work commitments as we could cook in the evening once the ‘proper’ work was done because after all, cooking isn’t like work at all to us, it’s fun and we get to chat and giggle for a couple of hours!

We decided to offer a limited menu that would change each week; a starter, two mains and a dessert/cake and that these could all be pre-ordered. That way we would know exactly how much food we had to prepare and there wouldn’t be any waste. So we set the date, did a postcard drop around Wivenhoe the weekend before and waited to see if anyone would order anything. Between ourselves, we hoped to sell 10 of each of the main meals and said that if we achieved that, we would be so happy. Here’s a picture of us waiting to greet our first real customers.

We were absolutely amazed to achieve three times our hoped for sales on that first day. We met some lovely people and made some new friends. We were able to send our Saturday boy Jim, off to make free deliveries to customers who lived in Wivenhoe.

Every week has brought new orders and new customers along with a number of return visitors. We have been delighted to have had such a supportive and encouraging beginning and we thank you all, for your orders and suggestions and feedback.

We have also been able to cater for some individual requests (including providing 20 mini pizzas for a post football match event and for dinner parties although obviously these won’t be happening while we’re in level 2 lockdown). We welcome your enquiries if you think we could help you cater for a special occasion.

For the time being, we are going to continue opening on Saturday mornings from 9-1pm. The menu changes each week and we ask that wherever possible, you place your order by Thursday. What has become apparent though, is that if we have a stock of frozen meals, these are popular too so from now on, we will have a selection of other dishes available other than what is on the weekly menu. All of the meals (not the cakes) can be reheated in the foil containers they come in, in the oven at 180 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

So that’s it for now and our thanks again. We’ll be in touch again soon with ideas for future meals and special occasions. If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact us.

Our very best wishes

Bev & Julie