I am delighted to report that I have had a very productive few days and that I’m inching closer to being able to open the kiosk.
Last week I obtained my certification for my personal license which means I can now begin the process of applying for an alcohol license for the café. I am keen that the café and kiosk develop as a food-led business, I’m very aware of our proximity to the children’s playground in Hermitage Park and feel that too much alcohol consumption or promotion would not be appropriate. That being said, I think a nice glass of wine or a local beer will be a welcome accompaniment to our food offering and I imagine many of you would like to enjoy this on the terrace on a sunny day. I am also very keen to work with local drinks producers, whether it be small-batch gins or microbreweries I feel that they would also be a welcome addition to our offering. If you are or know someone that’s producing locally in the Helensburgh and Lomond area please get in touch.
We also had our coffee machine fitted and installed this week. Coffee will be fundamental to our offering, especially in the kiosk. I spent a huge amount of time in the summer of last year meeting with suppliers and tasting many, many different types of coffee from a host of different styled machines. After much consideration, I decided that Carraro Coffee UK were the best fit for us. Carraro Coffee will supply our machine and also our coffee beans. I opted for Nemaya Arabica beans. The beans are lightly roasted, slightly stronger in flavour and aftertaste than most coffee but I felt they offered a well rounded and balanced cup of coffee. Carraro will also help train our team, making sure they know the difference between a microfoam and a macrofoam.
You may also have seen via Facebook that our signage has been installed. This was a really exciting step for me and made everything feel real.
Lastly, this week I have started to recruit our team. Over the next few weeks, we will be looking to recruit for a variety of roles front and back of house. Currently, I’m focusing on recruiting for the team leader role. If you are interested in applying you can find more information about the role and how to apply here.
As ever, if you have any questions or comments please get in touch with me at : Jamie@theparkpavilion.com