Lockdown Diaries Market Café

To keep all our businesses fresh in our minds (and not just the shops!) we’ve been asking a few of them to tell us more about themselves; how they are getting on during lockdown and what they are missing most about our town.

As part of our Lockdown Diaries Sandra Curties, Town Centre and Marketing Officer for Knutsford Town Council spoke to Steph Chadwick of The Market Café (in Knutsford Market Hall)

Tell us about your business?
We are a husband and wife team running The Market Café in Knutsford Market Hall. We opened in 2017, and we love it. When we get really busy it is a real family affair with our parents often helping. As well as running the café we do a huge amount of outside catering for private and public events, take part in Taste Knutsford and alongside fellow market traders Morgan Edwards Fine Wines & Spirits we run a monthly Supper Club. However, we think we are most famous for our toasted wraps and sausage rolls! A couple of years ago we even took part in the Great British Sausage Roll-Off finals.

How have you been helping customers during this time?
We are constantly on social media either doing recipes or using it to keep up to date with our lovely customers who we are missing very much. Luckily, we are getting emails from people enquiring about catering events for later in the year. This is exciting, reassuring but also worrying as we do not know when we can re-open or when ‘events’ (of whatever size) will be allowed by the government.

Can you share what you’ve applied for in terms of grants and funding?
We’ve applied for the small business grant which will be a great help to us.

Where are you up to with putting plans in place for when Knutsford re-opens?
We’ve been reviewing our menus and tweaking things here and there, but we are ready and raring to go to be honest. That probably has been the only advantage to having to close – we have time to review things – our supper clubs will be getting even more inventive!

What message do you have for other businesses?
Thank you! Thank you to all those who are still operating and supplying the community with essential deliveries and adapting their business to this crazy time. If you are closed like us hang on in there – we really hope to see you all soon. There seems to be a resurgence for shopping local so we really hope Knutsford can get through this.

What do you miss most about not being open?
Can I say EVERYTHING?! We actually miss working 60-90 hours a week doing what we love. We are the little café with the big heart. We miss catering for events, our fellow market traders and finally our customers! We have a real relationship with them whether it is the lovely guys from TT Games, Knutsford Admin (we miss you), or people working in the shops on top and bottom street.

Lockdown is over where will we find The Market Café team?
At the café making sausage rolls and brownies. Or having a big family BBQ. We’ve had to self-isolate so anywhere but home to be honest!