To combat this, Martin has made sure to highlight the unique selling points of the café—great decor and location, its homemade English cakes and pastries, hot and cold drinks designed by his daughter and premium ice cream. “An English master-baker provides all our baked products,” he says. “People love our homemade scones because you cannot get them anywhere else and our cream cheese carrot cake paired with a cold drink is already a best-seller.” The café is also proving popular with the young crowd who appreciate it for its Instagram-friendly setting as much as its toothsome high teas.
Keeping an optimistic outlook has been important to the novice restaurateur and when asked for his biggest take-away on business so far he smiles. “I’ve learned it’s no use trying to argue with your daughter, especially when she is your business partner. Seriously though, in any enterprise teamwork is vital. We’re all learning as a team and pulling together to make it work, Covid or no Covid.”