Two Lincoln businesses proved so popular after coverage in The Lincolnite that they had to close for restocking!
New business Lincoln Bagel Co on Guildhall Street, as well as vegan restaurant Cafe Shanti, now under new ownership, weren’t prepared for how busy they would be.
The Lincolnite visited Cafe Shanti last week, which recently reopened under the ownership of best friends Melanie StJohn-Howe and Joanna Farr.
Cafe Shanti posted on its Facebook page on Sunday, March 5 as it had to temporarily close that day.
They said: “Due to what we are now calling The Lincolnite effect we were not prepared for how busy we would be (on Saturday) and we have run out of food.”
A selection of dishes from the new menu at Cafe Shanti. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Co-owner Mel told The Lincolnite: “We think we were a lot busier because of article which we are grateful for.
“There was a lot of excitement and a buzz in the air. There were times we ran out of some food on Saturday so we had to close Sunday to restock and address some of the feedback.
“It helped highlight some changes we needed to make with regards to how we run it on a weekend compared to in the week.
“We had some feedback from customers, constructive and good and we are grateful for all of it. We understand going forward what needs to be done.
“We are back open now and had a really nice, busy lunch (on Monday, March 6) and had a lot of walk-ins. We had the place full for dinner.”
The owners also said they are happy for people to message the Facebook page or to email [email protected] with any feedback.
Cafe Shanti is open on Monday (10am-4pm), Thursday (11am-10pm), Friday and Saturday (11am-11pm), and Sunday (12pm-6pm), but closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Melanie StJohn-Howe and Joanna Farr are the owners of Cafe Shanti.
Lincoln Bagel Co opened on Guildhall Street in the city centre last week and is run by father-of-13 Dean Bell and two of his sons, Joseph and Joshua.
After completely selling out on Tuesday, February 28, the cafe had to close for restocking the following day.
They then made double the amount of bagels and reopened on Thursday, March 2, but they sold out in just two-and-a-half hours and had to put up a sold out sign.
The cafe is proving very popular and continues to sell out every day, with inside full and queues outside the door on some days, and they will now be taking on more staff in the near future to help manage the busy demand.
Co-owner Joshua said: “The first week was unbelievable. The response has been amazing and lots of people have come in because they read the article.
“A lot of people who came in referenced The Lincolnite which is really cool and it has blown away our expectations.
“We’ve had so much more custom than we thought and people are loving the food. We have had a lot of repeat customers already.”
Serving New York style bagels and milkshakes. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
As a result of the busy opening week, the opening hours have changed to Monday to Saturday between 11am and 4pm.
The cafe will be announcing the opening days each week, but said “as we find our stride we’ll be opening more consistently in the future”.
Joshua’s brother and cafe co-owner Joseph said: “We’ve been profoundly touched and humbled by the extraordinary support we’ve received from the people of Lincoln.
“Our only challenge last week was working to keep up with demand. We’re a family business and it was important for us that, during this opening season, we worked at a pace that would allow our staff to run sustainably and to give our customers the best experience.
“We’re already looking to expand our staff roster in the near future. We’re working hard to keep up with demand (as we’ve sold out of bagels almost every day so far), and as we find a sustainable way to increase those numbers we’ll be expanding our opening hours to include breakfast.
“We’ve had great feedback from our customers so far, and we’re excited to grow and explore new options. We’ll be introducing our delicious gluten-free bagels in the near future, and we have plans to introduce sweet options to the menu.
“There is a lot to look forward to, but for the present, we’re deeply grateful for such a warm welcome by the city, and we’re thankful for the staff at The Lincolnite for being such encouraging advocates for our little business.”
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