Garden Centre Catering Awards winner profile
With Independent Garden Centre Caterer of the Year, Garden Terrace Café Batsford Arboretum.
Garden Terrace Café has operated in Batsford Arboretum Garden Centre in the Cotswolds for 13 years. It takes the utmost pride in delivering quality and value for money, while also ensuring that its environmental footprint is as low as possible.
The eatery aims to deliver the highest standards of food and service within a safe, professional and inclusive environment for both staff and customers. It demonstrates respect for staff, visitors, the environment and what we put into our bodies. The business prides itself on being dedicated to providing healthy, sustainable catering for a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.
Over the years, Garden Terrace Café has become one of the Cotswolds’ most renowned destinations for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, with quality and value for money being its main focus. The café is well known for its homemade soups, freshly-baked focaccia, fantastic Sunday roasts and large display of homemade cakes. All can be enjoyed from the beautiful terrace seating area, which offers stunning views over the plant centre and beyond into the countryside.
The business boasts a wonderful team of 48 local people who work tirelessly together and with the visitors to make it feel like a family. The oldest employee is a sprightly 83 years young.
After 10 years in operation, a major extension and overhaul was undertaken. This involved making the restaurant three times bigger and completely remodelling the space.
Despite the onset of Covid, the team pushed forward with the plan and reopened in September 2022 with a café that went from 64 to 184 covers internally with an additional 360 outside. The layouts, furniture, fixtures and fittings are now carefully considered and functional. The principles of circularity and recycling were at the top of the list for the materials used.
A spokesperson for Garden Terrace Café said: “This was obviously a huge risk with the effects of Covid still very much at the forefront of everyone’s mind, both in the business and health sense, but our courage was worth it. We now have a beautiful new restaurant complete with custom furniture to complement our surrounding countryside. The entire space has glass walls for a full view from each table.”
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