Summer is upon us!!!
Its lovely to see you all popping in over the Chorley hols in your summery atire, getting a smoothie to cool down.

I wanted to let you know that we’re just in the stages of finalising the new *Summer Menu*, so brace yourself for some new additions. 
We’ve added some new yummy options for breakfast, and have re-vamped the drinks menu.  I’m really looking forward to the big launch, and hope to see you all in here to sample our new dishes.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy your various holidays and trips.  Make sure you come in and tell us all about your jaunts out and about; we’d love to see some holiday piccies!!

Sally x

I write this evening after having a day off! I have spent the time visiting establishments with a similar ethos to ourselves and reviewing their working practices and seeing what would translate well in chorley.

On the back of this, and many other visits and ideas we are on the verge of some major changes at Cafe Taylors, after listening to your comments and sugestions.

So, we now stock coffee from the locally based Clitheroe, exchange coffee co. and have some fabulous varieties for you to try.  I am confident that it will please the chorley coffee connoisseur

We have also begun an offer of the week, changing each week, to offer you the best produce at the best price or for you to try something new.

We are looking at the additions for the new summer menu and to let you in on the gossip……we are adding frappes and milkshakes! Mmmmmm!

All this in addition to launching summer smoothie loyalty cards, you have to pop in soon!!

Happy Spring Bank Witsun holidays everyone!

Not so plesant with the weather as i type, but we have lots to warm you up at cafe taylors…

Check out our offer of the week each week, which will concentrate on a different food or drink item and combine it to your advantage, so keep popping back and trying out new things you might not have thought to try, for a bargain!!

Our busy fortnight of British sandwich week and national Vegetarian week went exremely well and i would like to thank all those who participated and who brought in their vouchers or who tried something new  If you were a first time visitor, we hope to see you again soon.

I take this opportunity to give every credit to the pupils of Parklands high school who visited in their masses on friday for a half term holday treat.  They were most polite and well mannered children and left no mess or disruption behind whilst ordering and consuming their smoothies.  If you know of anyone connected to the school, i as you to compliment them on my behalf, i was most impressed with “the youth of today”

o dear, i am sorry i have not kept you informed of late, we have had lots of changes at Taylors and it has taken up a lot of time.

We like to change with the times and keep you all coming to see whats new, along with being practical to your needs, so if you havnt been in lately, you will notice we have a larger noticeboard, as we had soooo many community things to promote and regulars business cards that we simply couldnt fit it all on! we have also moved the morning papers as it was not professional to have the first thing you see when you walk in as being scratty papers.

We now offer pieces of fruit for sale each day, along with loyalty cards for the smoothies.  There is an offer of the week each week, so keep your eyes peeled or bargains and opportunities to bring your friends and have a fabulous time!

It has been a busy week this week, as it has been British sandwich week www.sandwich.org.uk where we have had special offers on wraps, pittas, bagels and our bread of the day which was a gorgeous pumpkin seeds that was made on site in our bread maker.

Our sandwich of the week is our exclusive “civic sandwich” which consists of thick beef slices, locally grown tomatoes and a rich wholegrain mustard for our market supplier which combines beautifully on thick bread to be enjoyed in the heart of chorley’s civic quarter! mmmmmmm!

The response has been fantastic, especially with the offer in the chorley guardian this week for 25% off any sandwich and with the promotion we are doing on the radio this afternoon with chorley fm.

Today is actually “fruity friday” so all the staff are dressing up in bright yellow and offering smoothies for just £1! Its to encourage people to consume more fruit by way of cancer prevention, so, as we are all involved in the race for life, we thought this would be a fantastic way to begin the promotions! check out fruityfriday.org ad dont forget to redeem your smoothie voucher this friday and saturday if you received one at school from us

I had better keep you posted on all this other things we are doing, but i think we’ll work on the little and often tack, as i dont want to overload you with information whilst i am in my excited state!

Hope you are all keeping well and healthy and hopefully we’ll see you soon!

i thought i had better give you an update on the feedback for the new menu.

You love the bacon! lol As anticipated, you love the bacon, omlettes and lamb, so thank you for supporting us with these new additions.  Many of the old favourites are still there though, so dont worry!

Things have been much quieter however with the “easter” holidays, so we have been getting on top of the cleaning and re-ordering.  With the early finish from the change in opening times, i managed to take a stroll in the sunshine to the post office and noticed lots of changes in the nearby area, to steal the phrase of a popular housebuilder that i saw on the new buckshaw village “its going to be the place to be!”

why?

well, it looks like the suggestion at a recent council meeting was taken up to spruce up the entry into the town, so outside the gala bingo is being grassed over and smartened up The little ginnel beside argos has also been given a face lift with a new parking surface and fancy railings along with all the new life on the little street of st thomas’s road itself!

The rose and crown have resumed doing food, seasons have a live jazz night and the health, hair and beauty rooms are about to open at the end of the month.

Just before we opened, i had been struggling getting my plans to fruition, and being an avid fan of fate and what is meant to be, i thought maybe this was the universe’s way of telling me, this cafe was a bad idea.  Unsure what to do, i visited a spiritual lady whom a colleague recommended and she agreed with me that it was a bad idea to persue.  Her reasons were purely personal opinion and she said it was a tired and run down old street and nothing good could come of it.

I have to say that that was about 12 months ago and would you ever believe the difference!!

onwards and upwards dear friends, and i am taking you with me Looking forward to seeign you soon, so you can experience for yourselves all you have just read about :) 

Just a note about opening times in line with the new menu launch….

the revised opening times will be as follows from monday 7th April 2008

Monday 8am - 4.30pm

Tuesday 8am - 5pm

Wednesday 8am - 5pm

Thursday 8am - 5pm

Friday 8am - 4.30pm

Saturday 9.30am - 5pm

Sunday CLOSED

At the ti of the original business plan there was no smoking ban in place and with being a cafe that focused on health, we thought it fitting to be a smoke free cafe, which at the time was unheard of!

The plan was, to encourage health consious people, particularl office workers to visit and have a coffee after work in a smoke free environment where the coffee machine wasnt turned off at 4pm.  We have workedwith this ethos of being a meeting place during the cold and wet times during the winter, for just over 7 months and the response from the chorley patrons has been poor.

I had anticipated people popping by for a slice of cake to take home for the family or a fresh fruit smoothie on the way to collect the kids or as a liquid tea before an exercise class or college course, but my thoughts have been miscalculated.

 I am sorry to have to announce the alteration in hours, especially to those who have supported it by meeting with colleagues after school, and those popping into the bank or dentist after work and having a moment of peace without the children and i thank you for your custom and support. 

I do hope that the revised times are convenient to you all and hope that you enjoy the new menu, along with the ever anticiapted sunshine filled with vitamin D on the way! 

next week we launch the new spring menu! Monday 7th April.

After consulatation with you, our customers through feedback we have some classic additions, of lamb and …….bacon! We have found a lot of patrons thought we were exclusively vegetarian, which is not the case as we have always served a meat alternative as the weekly chalboard special and had chicken on the menu, so tell your friends to come back and pay us a visit if they think they know what we do - they might be plesantly suprised!

We dont want to isolate our current custom and vegetarian base though, so we have some alterations included in the new menu for you too a fantastic omlette, which i challenge you to find better in chorley!

Looking forward to seeing you then

Phew! That was busy fortnight!

All the staff were involved in the awareness campaign, kathryn made a wonderful fairtrade chocolate cake, (which only lasted on the counter for the morning before being snapped up by you lot!) and katie made a huge tea pot to highlight the target we set for selling 500 cups in the course of the fortnight.  Fairtrade tea, coffee, hot chocolate and juice all qualified, so we surpassed the taget! thank you for your support.

I hope you all liked your samples.  The “Geo-bars” seemed to go down very well, so we might look at stocking that or those of you who pop in for breakfast from 8am.

A necessary and sincere thank you must go to Mrs Stephanie Robinson who made our fairtrade events what they were.  Her knowledge during the talks, her time and her produce were greatly received by all the staff and customers at Cafe Taylors.  We are particularly honoured to have her present as she is in great demand around the Chorley area, dong talks, demonstations and stalls for the likes of Runshaw College, Chorley churches and Chorley Council.

Unlike the supermarkets and those wanting to jump on the bandwagon, we will still be selling fairtrade at Cafe Taylors, long after the fortnight has passed.  Keep logging on for news of the latest products we stock and offers we are running on them.

Hurray! We are half way through the year Today is the six month anniversary of our opening back in September and we are all excited about going out for an anniversary tea this evening to celebrate the achievement of getting chorley people fit and healthy and on the wholefood map!

Its lovely that is co-incides with fairtrade fortnight and the stall we are running today with new products along with working towards our new menu ready for launch at the end of the month.  So much has gone on over the past six months and i promise you that there is more to come….

They say that “three’s a crowd” but at the moment, two is enough!!

For those of you who have two children, you will know how tiresome it is to devote all your time and energy to one child, whist trying to do the same with the other…

This is no different with businesses.  Strange as it may seems for a young girl, i have two businesses on the go. 

The first, was started 9 years ago, “Hands in Harmony” (www.handsinharmony.co.uk) where i practice complementary therapies, for clients around the Chorley and Preston area in their homes on a freelance basis.  When setting up the cafe, it made perfect sense to me that as most of my appointments were in the evening, (people who had busy day jobs and needed relaxation in the evening, or suffered from tension headaches after a long day at work of back ache from a day on the go) that the whole food cafe work in the day would fit in well and compliment the therapies.

However! After doing an 87 hour week last week, keeping staff, customers, clients (and at the bottom of the list, my poor Stephen) happy, i now believe that two is a crowd! 

Not many people know that i am in the cafe itself each morning from 8am, making deiveries for fresh fruit and produce, staying on until 6pm when we close, six days a week, which makes 60 hours a week to begin with! In addition, i have built up the reputation and rapport with my long standing, understanding clients that i am reluctant to give up. I dont want anyone to feel sorry for me working hard or even say that i am doing too much, because i am enjoying all that i do and really would not have it any other way I just felt he need to outline the reasons why i am not able to take on new clients or open sundays or as i have been asked quite freqently of late….have a baby!

I will always endevour to do my best for you and will give you all the time and energy i have in return for your support and encouragement as ever