Husband-and-wife-team, Kevin and Debbie Gibson, moved their catering business to the Harborough Innovation Centre at the start of 2014, after successfully securing a contract to provide these services.
The centre is owned by Harborough District Council and is home to a growing community of businesses from designers and employment specialists to administrators and agronomists.
The couple, who have been serving Market Harborough with sandwiches for over six years from a shop in St Maryâs Road, are now watching their business thrive as they feed and network with the army of office staff who work in and around the centre.
Kevin said: "We sold the sandwich shop and opened the Caffe Carrara coffee bar in the innovation centre's main reception on January 14. It was the right time for us to look at something new. We were already doing the centreâs conference buffets and we saw the opportunity of running a coffee bar for people visiting clients, as well as the people already working there."
"It was something that the innovation centre didn't have and something that, with our 30 years of experience as caterers, we knew we could provide."
In its first week of business Caffe Carrara racked up the following numbers:
260 - cappuccinos made
8 - different flavours of homemade soup served
14 - the weight in kilograms of coffee beans sold
240 - the number of pints consumed
20 - the number of different flavours of homemade cake ordered.
Kevin added: "We're listening to the feedback and trying to figure out what customers want, and at what time of day. That will make us more efficient and help us serve people better. It's a nice, warm and relaxed environment and we serve plated hot and cold food as well as food that people can "grab and go". We hope to achieve a good turnover and hopefully, if the opportunity comes along, we can duplicate the business idea in other innovation centres in the future."
So, if you're in the area, why not call and try it for yourself?
