Winning the Farm Café/ Restaurant of the Year award and Rising Star, the West Sussex Farm was praised by the judges highly.
A statement from the Judges said: “Their menu centres around their own outstanding produce, in a bright and fresh setting with loads of natural light."
A statement from the Judges said: “Their menu centres around their own outstanding produce, in a bright and fresh setting with loads of natural light."
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So I'm Claire, I'm the cafe front of house manager.
00:04 So I'm responsible for looking after the sort of day-to-day
00:06 runnings of the front of house area,
00:09 looking after the customers, making sure the whole team
00:12 know what they're doing and what we want our customers
00:15 to experience from the moment they walk in the door,
00:18 throughout their experience whilst they're here,
00:21 really up until the moment they leave.
00:23 So I look after the team, engage with the kitchen.
00:27 They're managed by the head chef,
00:28 between the head chef and myself.
00:30 We look after the cafe as a whole, really.
00:33 So the Farm Retail Association,
00:34 I know that the farm shop themselves,
00:37 who obviously we're connected with,
00:39 they have put themselves up for awards in previous years.
00:44 And this year we decided it was time
00:46 to put the cafe up for an award.
00:49 First time we'd done so,
00:50 so we were really excited to put ourselves forward.
00:53 There was a lot of anticipation leading up to finding out.
00:56 And we found out that we were nominated for two awards.
00:59 After putting our application in,
01:01 we came back with the news
01:02 that we were going to be put up for two awards,
01:03 which was really, really great
01:05 for the whole team to hear that.
01:07 So we were put forward for Cafe and Restaurant of the Year.
01:11 And we were also put up for the Rising Star Award.
01:13 So where we're a new business
01:15 that's been around for just under three years,
01:17 we're onwards and upwards.
01:19 So that's what that award's for as well.
01:21 We were all completely over the moon when we found out.
01:23 We were, as I say, it was quite a few months leading up
01:26 to finding out the result.
01:27 And we knew that we were going to be visited a couple of times.
01:31 We were going to have some secret diners coming in.
01:33 So there was a lot of nice team morale
01:36 leading up to the build up and finding out the result.
01:38 And when we all found out,
01:40 it was really, really wonderful for the whole team.
01:42 The whole team worked really hard on a daily basis.
01:45 And I think both the awards just really provide an outcome
01:48 for everything that the whole team does.
01:50 And yeah, just gives us credit for where credit's due,
01:53 really for front of house, kitchen,
01:55 and how we all work together.
01:56 So a lot of our menu is based around the food
02:00 that we grow on the farm.
02:02 We try to make our specials menu
02:05 that the chefs put together every day
02:07 to really focus on that produce that we grow here.
02:10 We also will change our menu,
02:12 our main menu seasonally three or four times
02:14 throughout the year.
02:15 And we'll introduce produce that is in growth
02:18 at that time of year.
02:20 So you'll see our own fruits and vegetables
02:22 on the main menu and specifically
02:25 on the specials menu as well.
02:26 And those specials menu dishes,
02:28 they're really the dishes that are where
02:31 most of the creativity comes from the kitchen.
02:33 And they'll really put those ingredients to work
02:35 and really show off what we do.