Poppins Café Restaurant in Dorchester is celebrating a year in business this summer.

Managed by Sedat Akkurt, the café restaurant, at the Forum Centre, Trinity Street, has won this week’s Trader of the Week title for being an undiscovered gem in the county town.

Like many other eateries in the area, Poppins is taking part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, offering £10 off per person from Monday to Wednesday in August.

The café, open daily from Monday to Saturday, 8.30am to 5.30pm, serves breakfast, lunch, snacks, coffee, cold drinks and pancakes. It serves an extremely popular Mary Poppins pancake - consisting of two pancakes topped with bananas, with whipped cream and ice cream, toffee sauce and chocolate strands - all for £4.20.

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The business is also known for its all day breakfast and lunch with a late breakfast special for £5.50, a veggie breakfast for £5.50 and an inclusive breakfast with tea and coffee for £7.90.

Making up the team alongside Sedat are Justin, Hasan, Bryony, Jasmin and Teri.

Social media is what makes Poppins stand out from the crowd, Sedat says. Poppins is a chain with branches across the country, with 80 to 90 per cent of the menu the same, but with scope for each café to have individuality.

“The menu is never the same in each Poppins,” Sedat said.

“We’ve been working on a Facebook page to promote Poppins as much as we can.”

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It hasn’t been an easy return since lockdown was lifted and Poppins was able to reopen again, Sedat said.

“Some people are scared to come and sit in the café unfortunately, it’s going to take time to get more people coming back.

“Generally business is going OK but it’s not the same as it used to be.

“We are expecting more customers to come back for the Eat Out to Help Put scheme.”

The restaurant also prides itself on its cleanliness and its ‘quick and best’ service.

If you would like to nominate your business for Trader of the Week, fill out our simple Q & A form online

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A lot of customers enjoy the café’s coffee, Sedat says, which is freshly ground for each order.

“Our coffee is very popular as it’s freshly ground and we also freshly cook 80 per cent of our meals.”

It’s an honour to be crowned the Dorset Echo’s Trader of the Week, Sedat says, ‘as it makes me and our staff feel special’ He recommends people buy/ try from Poppins the all day breakfast, coffees, pancakes and lunch meals. It’s an honour to be operating in Dorchester says Sedat. He lives in Yeovil, but says he much prefers working in Dorchester which he regards as a ‘really nice’ town.