This week we talk coffee and ‘greener menus’ with JJ customer Steven Mitchell, owner of two successful restaurants in the Hitchin vicinity.
Steven Mitchell is the owner of the very popular restaurant, The Orchard Fairfield, which is situated within the historic setting of Fairfield Hall and surrounded by the picturesque Bedfordshire countryside.
Steven Mitchell is the owner of The Orchard Fairfield and at Vanstone Park Garden Centre
The business combines hearty home-cooked food, with indulgent cakes and coffee for the adjoining health club’s spa guests, as well as being a popular restaurant for the public.
Thought highly of by the locals, it’s no surprise that over the years, The Orchard has grown to become the heart of the community.
New opening…
Last year, Owner Steven opened a brand-new venture, The Orchard at Vanstone Park Garden Centre, serving delicious food from breakfast to lunch and afternoon tea – and a wide variety of cakes, pastries, teas and coffees (supplied by JJ Foodservice).
We are delighted that Steven started using JJ’s – and even more pleased that he is happy with our service and quality.
“Getting deliveries on time is really important to our business – that’s where our previous supplier let us down”, says Steven.
“But since switching to JJ’s it’s going great! We place our order online and we’ve never had a late delivery,” he adds.
“The prices are competitive particularly on soft drinks and the gluten-free chocolate fudge cake is hugely popular with our customers,” he added.
As the preferred distributor of LavAzza coffee in the UK, we recommended LavAzza as the perfect partner to Steven’s breakfast and afternoon tea menu.
“We’ve switched our coffee to Lavazza Super Gusto and our customers love it – the team at JJ and LavAzza were really helpful in making sure we got the right blend and provide continuous training and support.”
Good coffee is particularly important for the Garden Centre café, which attracts customers who come every day for their breakfast, meet family and friends for lunch or tea.
“Our customers use our place as a daily social hub – it’s become even more popular with families since we invested in the play area for the kids.”
Environmentally friendly menus
Back at The Orchard Fairfield, Steve has been evolving his menu to cater for a wide range of diets including Gluten-Free, vegetarian and a newly launched vegan offering.
“The new vegan menu includes salads, sandwiches, brunch and desserts, and we will continue to grow the menu with demand” he says.
“This is a really important part of our business now and we are adapting fast to cater for customer requirements.”
Catering for the future
Environmental alternatives are also important to the business and Steve has a strict ‘no single-use plastics’ policy. This year the business has also reduced food waste by adapting the menus to remove all single-use items.
“We have totally removed dishes that require single-use ingredients and replaced them with a 100% multi-use menu, which has helped to reduced stock holding by a third and create a huge reduction in waste!” says Steven.
As if opening a second restaurant wasn’t enough – Steven has also recently become a dad to his third child! We’d like to congratulate him and his wife on a successful first year with the new venture – may it long continue!
Buy LavAzza coffee at JJ’s here.
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