A BUYER has been found for a popular café by the Welcome Slipway in Gorey – with its current owner soon stepping back to enjoy a well-earned retirement.
Rhona Hewit, who founded Rhona’s At The Beach 21 years ago, put her beachside business up for sale last year and after an eight-month search, contracts have now been signed with landlord Jersey Property Holdings.
However, nothing is due to change, with new owner Marie Wilson keeping the staff, name, and popular menu, including Rhona’s signature fish finger sandwiches.
Ms Hewit said that she was looking forward to having some ‘me-time’, especially after surviving skin cancer two years ago, when she had to step back from the business for 15 months.
She said: “There’s no change in direction at all, which is why we’re not setting or publicising any definitive handover: I’ll still be around for a few weeks yet so Marie will takeover at some point this summer. It will be Rhona’s with me one day and Rhona’s with her the next.
“It’s not broken, so why do you need to fix it?”
When it comes to Mrs Hewit’s post-work plans, she said: “21 years running a busy café is a long time and, as many people know, I’ve had my health issues. I am all clear now, but these things do change your perspective on life: I just want to take a bit more time for myself.
“But I’ll still be around; I have made lots of wonderful friends through the café and it’s the people whom I will miss the most … and the dogs.”
Ms Hewit said that the new owner would continue to raise money for charity through the sale of fish finger sandwiches and cake.
Rhona’s has raised more than £65,000 for local charities, an initiative Ms Hewit started in response to losing her nephew to suicide. Ms Hewit won the Community Champion of the Year category at the 2023 Pride of Jersey Awards.
Last year, Ms Hewit celebrated her most successful fundraising year to date, after raising £10,000 in 2025 for disability charity Enable Jersey.
This year, the café is raising funds for the Sophie Reid Neurological Association.
Ms Hewit said that the search for a new owner had been about finding someone who also shared her values and ethos for the café – and she had found the right person in Ms Wilson.
