Antonia’s Deli has parked up its mobile van in Quakers Friars for the summer, serving coffees, cakes and salad boxes to shoppers. The move comes soon after the new fan zone was installed on the street for visitors to kick back and watch the Wimbledon matches, for which Antonia’s has served cream tea refreshments.
Partners Antonia Allan and Ben Allotey run the mobile café together. They opened at Quakers Friars just two weeks ago and have been popular with customers who can ‘sit in’ at one of the colourful tables or takeaway.
Antonia’s Deli is open in Quakers Friars from 9am to 7pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sundays. Antonia and Ben are proud that their employees are all university students as they are keen to help those working part-time alongside their studies.
“I got into cooking for health reasons about 15 years ago. I am self taught, not a professional chef or anything,” said Ben. “It’s all homemade, we make all of our pastries and salad boxes. We wanted to offer something made with a bit more thought behind it.
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“Making the food yourself, you know what the ingredients are. Our suppliers are pretty local, like Marshfield Farm and Clifton Coffee. We have been serving people at the Chew Valley sailing club. At the club it is just for members, so we got the coffee cart to do something for the public.”
Antonia and Ben are keen to grow the independent sector presence in Cabot Circus. Antonia is from the Gloucester Road area and wants to see small businesses thrive in the City Centre.
“Cabot needs something like this. It would be great to see a lot more smaller independent businesses,” said Antonia.
Catherine Wade, Leasing Manager for Cabot Circus, said: “We see this as a cultural hub and a community space. We want it to be a place where people want to be and spend their time.”
“We’re giving brands a chance to test a location. Then we can discuss longer term agreements.”
Antonia’s Deli is one of the latest additions to Cabot Circus. Hammerson are keen to turn the shopping centre into more of an experience destination for visitors and have been working with both local and international brands to revitalise the space.