AN outdoor catering business is set to take over the Windmill in St Peter and open a new café alongside its existing operation.
Jersey Kitchen has moved into the premises alongside Catherine Best jewellers, and Tony Sargeant, co-owner of Jersey Kitchen, said the two businesses would work ‘side by side’.
The new café is due to open in March and will be open from 9am until 5.30pm from Tuesday to Sunday.
Mr Sargeant, who has taken over the café alongside his wife, Helen, and Jersey Kitchen head chef Hector McDonald, has described their offering as a cross between a café and a bistro.
He said they would continue to run their outdoor catering business alongside the café – which he believed would provide a good opportunity to market the quality of their food and service.
‘The opportunity came completely out of the blue,’ he said. ‘We were never planning on opening our own café but the landlord phoned us and offered the opportunity and when we went to look at the place, we realised we had found a hidden gem.
‘That same week our current landlord told us we had six months to leave and so that accelerated our decision. So we will be moving both the catering company and opening a café at the Windmill,’ he added.
Mr Sargeant said the premises also had a car park for over 100 spaces and a three-vergée field which they could use.
‘We want to use the field to grow our veg and do field to table, which is very rare. We also would like to use the field to run occasional events which tie in with our outdoor catering,’ he said.
‘And we would like to resurrect out feast nights, where once a month in the café we would do a different themed evening, serving food from different parts of the world and sell tickets for the event.’
Mr Sargeant said they would be working with Catherine Best to offer events such as a ‘gin and gemstones night’ which would feature canapés and talks from the jewellery makers.
Jersey Kitchen also hopes to host its own workshops, at which they would teach people how to make grazing platters and charcuterie boards.
He continued: ‘The place will be dog friendly, it’s on a popular bus route and it has a terrace area. We really want to be all-inclusive and with the car park we can attract coach tours and motorcycle clubs.
‘This is really the shot in the arm we’ve been looking for and I haven’t been this excited about a business project in years.’
