Out & About August 2017

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

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.

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