These are tough times in the catering industry for myriad reasons. Rising costs and staffing issues are just two problems business owners face. For some – it’s too much to bear.
As was the case earlier this year for Tracey Ball. Tracey set up Nourish café in Newbourne in 2019 and went on to be incredibly successful, creating a beautiful hub in the Suffolk countryside. One with delightful dining spaces, equally delightful food, and a wealth of walks on the doorstep. It became, for many, a go-to spot for tea and cake, and weekend brunches.
Via takeaways and outdoor dining, Tracey kept the café afloat during lockdown (which hit the day after their first birthday). But she says the pressure mounted so much at the beginning of 2022 that she was working 17 to 18-hour days. It had to stop. She closed Nourish in August, much to the shock of regular visitors.
“For me, this place, its name...it’s about nourishing in every sense of the word. You want a happy team that gets on well together, and for that to ripple through the whole place. I got to the point in March where I didn’t have a kitchen team. This year, finding a chef or kitchen staff has been particularly challenging.
“I basically spent six months doing everything myself. I would do the prep, the food on the days we were open, the service, most of the baking. That was on top of running the business. I was exhausted and I thought ‘if I don’t have a break now, I will break...or I’ll fall out of love with this place’.”
Tracey took a pause and decided there was nothing she could do but shut Nourish – in what is typically one of the busiest, most profitable times of the year.
“Not only was there the staffing issue,” she reflects, “but there were the electricity price hikes, the price of produce going up all the time, and supply issues. I can’t tell you how challenging it was.
“My decision wasn’t made lightly.”
And this is clear from talking to Tracey, who absolutely lights up when given the chance to wax lyrical on her favourite subject – food.
Opening Nourish was, she says, a huge leap of faith. Running her own café had been a long-held dream, and was completely at odds with a career that had included working in safeguarding with the police, at a local high school, and with Inspire Suffolk.
She had needed, at the time, a complete change. “I have just always loved food, ever since I was little. We had a huge garden growing up, and my dad grew so much produce. I spent my days picking and shelling peas and broad beans.”
Tracey says she never had the confidence to start her own business, but in 2018 found herself in a job she didn’t like.
“I kept driving past the site where Nourish is now, dreaming. Then one day, after 10 months in a job I hated, I went home to my partner and said ‘I’m opening a café'. I just thought, if it doesn’t happen now, it will never happen.
“Funnily enough, I never thought about whether it was going to be successful or not. I laugh now, because people asked me if I was going to have any staff. I said, ‘no, I’m going to do it all on my own’. I honestly thought I’d make a few coffees and serve a bit of cake.”
How wrong she was, because Nourish was soon thriving. Tracey (factoring in the general issues being felt in hospitality across the country), became a victim of her own success.
Now, after a period of reflection, and with a steady hand of help in the kitchen in the form of the excellent Louise McKenzie (formerly of The Greyhound at Pettistree) until Christmas, she has finally managed to open the doors once more. To a new kind of Nourish.
Having Louise on board is, she says, “a breath of fresh air”.
Going back to her roots, and childhood love of growing, the new Nourish has a smaller, more concise menu, further deepening its connections with local produce.
Tracey has a gardener, Hannah, who’s in the process of filling the café's polytunnel with veg. And other produce is sourced if not directly from growers in the village, from its outskirts.
“People don’t know this about Newbourne, but it is a growers’ village. We have a lot of people and businesses growing produce here. We’re sourcing literally from people who have stalls outside their gardens. Then there are people like the fantastic Doug, who grows strawberries sold in the Co-op. We take his surplus and make our jam with it.
“We’re more focussed than ever before on sourcing from as close to the café as we can, and having a smaller menu so we don’t create waste.”
Nourish is open from 9.30am to 3pm, Wednesday to Saturday, offering food from 9.30am to 2pm – including all-day breakfasts on a Friday and Saturday.
The café, as before, bursts with homemade cakes – bestsellers being the Biscoff Millionaire’s and Biscoff rocky road, and big fat wedges of traditional sponges.
Around now, Tracey adds, you’ll find spiced cakes and gingerbread. And the autumn drinks specials have just launched. Think pumpkin spiced latte and honeycomb hot chocolate.
“We’ve got so many different syrups for coffee and hot chocolate now. Toffee nut, salted caramel, crème brulee – even popcorn!”
A small breakfast menu is offered on Wednesday and Thursday. Things like bacon butties with homemade apple ketchup, homemade granola, and porridge topped with cinnamon and apple compote and candied pecans.
On Fridays and Saturdays this is expanded with sourdough smothered in homemade smoky beans, hotch-potch mushrooms (“vegan, but so creamy and delicious”), their own hash browns with toppings, pancakes and more.
As for lunch? You could keep it light with a cheese scone or sausage roll. Otherwise, Tracey offers a couple of varieties of homemade soup, such as sweetcorn chowder or roasted butternut squash. These will change with the seasons, based on the freshest ingredients that end up on the kitchen counter.
“We have some really nice grilled sandwiches at the moment for lunch, like smoked ham with our own apple chutney and cheese. Our Welsh rarebit is delicious. And we have a lovely autumnal nourish salad bowl with warm squash, roasted veggies and goats’ cheese. That’s very nice.”
Following the success of a recent pop-up Italian supper club, Tracey says more pop-up evening events will come, but she’s most excited about her upcoming Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 1.
“I’ve wanted to do a harvest festival for ages,” she says.
Running from 10am to 4pm, 14 stallholders will be at Nourish, including Posy, Hooked by Hayley, The Good Dog, and The Suffolk Flower Garden.
And Tracey’s team will be selling bacon butties, beef and veggie Reuben sandwiches and all the usual cakes and coffees, alongside fried chicken from Suffolk Fried Chicken.
Entry to the event is free, unless you fancy entering your pooch into the dog show. Entry is £10, including a Good Dog treat bag, the owner’s first cup of tea or coffee, and a ‘pup cup’.
Tickets can be bought online at the Nourish website, or on the day, with classes kicking off at 1pm.
“It should be so much fun,” says Tracey, “I just hope the weather holds out. We’d love to see lots of dog owners here as we are very dog-friendly. They can come in the morning for a coffee and a bacon butty, go off to enjoy one of the many brilliant walks from here, and come back for the dog show.
“I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see our regular customers coming back either.”
For the latest Nourish opening times keep an eye on the cafe's social media accounts including Nourish Cafe on Facebook. Opening hours may vary this autumn and winter.
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 here