The coronavirus pandemic has inspired a young couple to fulfil a dream by setting up a coffee shop.
Despite the tough financial times, Nate Leveritt, 28, and his partner Sophie opened up Door to the Cosmos in Lowestoft High Street in September and the coffee shop offers a variety of food including pastries, cakes and soups and also some vegan produce.
The coffee shop’s menu contains locally sourced produce after Mr Leveritt teamed up with Clinks Care Farm.
Mr Leveritt used to manage a coffee shop in Norwich but the uncertain times brought about by the pandemic inspired him and his partner to set up and run their own place.
Mr Leveritt said: “I had wanted to do this for years and I thought with everything that is going on ‘why not?’
“Me and my partner Sophie run things and the set up all happened organically.
“We offer a few vegan products because I’m vegan and I fed that into the menu. But we aren’t just a vegan coffee shop, we offer a variety of food and drink on our menu.”
Since opening at the beginning of September, Mr Leveritt has received a positive response from those in the community.
He said: “It’s become a nice hub for people. At first, we only opened for takeaways and now we only allow in one group as a time because we are limited for space.
“We’ve been surprised by the positive reception that we have received in the town so far.
“I guess we didn’t anticipate the positive reception that we would recieve considering the current economic climate many people find themselves in because of the pandemic.”
Mr Leveritt added that if a business like his can continue to grow on the high street, other start ups could have the potential to thrive in the future.
He said: “We deliberately picked the high street to open up the new premises. It has lots of interesting buildings and potential for the future.”
He added that the couple already had “exciting plans” for expansion in the town.
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