The hidden cafe proving to be a big hit
Cafe 11A in Lowestoft produces sandwiches from scratch and sources meat from across Suffolk. PHOTO: Chris Widdowfield - Credit: Archant
A seaside town cafe has proved to be a success with locals who have discovered the hidden gem.
Cafe 11A was opened by Chris and Amy Widdowfield in January 2020. PHOTO: Chris Widdowfield - Credit: Archant
Cafe 11A, owned by husband and wife Chris, 37 and Amy Widdowfield, 32, is tucked behind Lowestoft’s high street on Grove Road and has five star reviews on both Google and TripAdvisor.
The couple, who live in Framlingham, decided to set up business in January and quickly became a hit for locals who knew about them in the town after offering a unique service of exclusively sourced coffee and meat that is only supplied to themselves.
And although like all businesses they were rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, they came up with means to survive.
Director of the cafe Mr Widdowfield described why he decided to set up business in Lowestoft.
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He said: “I’ve got a catering background, I’ve always enjoyed cooking and always wanted to start my own business venture and my wife loves to bake so we kind of work hand in hand together.
“We were looking for commercial premises and this had the set up we were looking for.”
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Mr Widdowfield is involved with cooking the hot locally sourced food entirely from scratch on the day and his wife Amy bakes the sweet treats, cakes and organises takeaway afternoon teas.
Amy said: “We offer an all day breakfast menu, sandwiches which are all freshly made to takeaway and our general diner food.
“Now we are going into winter it’s now going into our seasonal menu so we’ve got a lot of pie and mash and gravy dinners on our menu.”
Both Mr and Mrs Widdowfield admitted that whilst getting through the coronavirus pandemic has been hard, it’s been a blessing in disguise.
Mrs Widdowfield said: “With lockdown, how we survived was we came up with afternoon tea boxes and picnic boxes to takeaway which were being sent up as far as Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester.
“This has really helped with the social distancing aspect as we can box them individually.”
Talking about the future, Mr Widdowfield said: “Maybe a year or two down the line we will try and replicate what we are doing down here somewhere else.
“This is 11A Grove Road, it’s where we started and we can carry this name on with us.”
