Kettering cafe and deli to merge and downsize but will still offer the same great local food
A cafe and deli that has become a go-to venue for lunch-goers and gourmands will slim down its premises, but promises the same high quality as before.
Kafe Bloc and Deli Bloc in Sheep Street, Kettering, have evolved from one shop to two and will now return to offering food and deli products under one roof.
Owner Tony Bagshaw has admitting to wanting to be less busy and had tentatively put the business up for sale, spurred on by a wish to retire and avoid a looming rise in business rates.
But instead of selling the business, he has sold the building that contains the cafe and will carry on in the area that currently houses the deli.
The 54-year-old said: “I’m getting on now so I decided I was going to sell the whole business, hopefully have a break and a few months off and then see what I fancied doing.
“So I put on a tentative for sale sign and somebody came along who was interested, not in the business but in the building.
“I thought about it – we could go back to be compact and bijou again and we could run the best bits of the deli and the cafe out of one store.”
The size of the cafe meant that the venue hosted the whole of the women’s England football squad, coaching team and backroom staff as they passed through the area.
Tony admits there will be less seating for customers but he will still be providing a takeaway service as well as locally made pies, sausage rolls and cakes, alongside other local products.
He said: “We’ll keep the food going just on a smaller scale.
“It also means I can get back under the business rates threshold which for me is one of the reasons that stops people from expanding.
“When I moved into these units, when you combined the rateable values of the two buildings, I was still under the the threshold for exemption on rates. When I had the revaluation done, it was just over, which means I’m liable for full business rates on the whole thing. We’ve had support from the Government for the last few years that’s due to end and that will be another £7,000 I’ll have to find from somewhere – it’s a big chunk with everything else that’s happened – the increased costs of electricity, ingredients and staff costs.”
The business will celebrate its 12th year in December. Tony is used to change after he switched careers from a corporate desk job for working behind the counter.
With time freed up, he has taken on a new challenge, a rehearsal space in Northampton where he hopes he will be able to concentrate on his music side project, ELO covers band The Eclectic Light Orchestra.
He said: “Going smaller puts me in a much better position. Smaller means I’m much more efficient.
"It gives me the opportunity to follow one of my passions which is music. I’m taking on a rehearsal venue in Northampton and I’ll play more in my band.”
He added: “Kafe Bloc and Deli survives with the same great quality and products for customers.”