A GROWING business which sells bottled artisan chilli sauces has now opened its doors to a new cafe kitchen shop in Weymouth.
The Weymouth 51 Cafe Kitchen Shop has officially opened its doors this Tuesday at Basepoint Business Centre on Jubilee Close.
The business is headed by Mikka Tamlyn, who runs it with the help of her husband David. The couple said they started selling their own chilli sauces around two years ago from chillies grown locally in Weymouth and are now happy to be opening their own premises. The cafe kitchen shop is currently open five days a week, Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5pm.
The husband and wife team said they hope the new premises will give them the opportunity to also provide unique private dining experiences and informative cooking classes in the future which teach people how to make kimchi and provide a space where people can learn more about growing and fermenting food.
Mikka grew up in Hong Kong, where the couple met, and much of their menu offers a variety of Asian inspired cuisine and flavours, with vegan options, using locally-sourced produce.
David said: "We're really busy on the weekends doing farmers markets, but the eventual aim is to get this place open on the weekends and evenings as well and having a really funky menu that's led by what's available seasonally.
"We could eventually be doing breakfast, lunch and dinner here seven days a week. That's where we would like to get to.
"We're trying to slowly start employing more people."
Despite the hospitality industry being thrown into turmoil by the Covid pandemic, the couple said they were not worried about opening up a new restaurant during the current climate and were confident that they were in a good position to keep their business growing.
David said: "The company has grown organically from day one with our input and with the help of other people along the way - and that's the way we'll continue to grow.
"We're trying to do things slowly and not put ourselves under too much strain or pressure. That's why we're not opening seven days a week just yet, we want to grow this company step by step and be sensible about it."
Mikka said that during lockdown, when farmers markets closed, they started putting more pictures of how they make their chilli sauces on their Instagram page and started to get a lot of attention and gaining customers from their social media following locally and further afield.
David added: "The difference between us and other companies is that you can see everything we do - people can actually see the process. We do things the old fashioned way, fermenting everything ourselves - there's no shortcuts. We let the chillies be the star of the show in every bottle.
"We're hoping to get to a point where we can employ some more local staff. We hope that we can get the support from people coming down here, seeing what we're about and hopefully spending some money, buying food or sauces and telling their friends about it."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel