The Bridge Patisserie

The Bridge Patisserie is a french-style café in Winchester, providing delicious lunches, coffee, cakes and chocolates – much of it freshly made each morning using local supplier ingredients. In 2019 The Bridge Patisserie and their team celebrated their 20th year anniversary serving coffee to the residents of Winchester, having opened for business back in the summer of 1999. They employ around 10 staff who work various shifts throughout the week.

The patisserie benefits from a healthy footfall from Winchester locals and visitors passing by, and their café and coffee shop seating area is always busy – so with the recent government announcements, they have had to think about how to they can adapt, to both help their community and keep their staff in jobs.

After lots of enquiries from Winchester locals as to whether they could deliver food and lunches to nearby locations during social distancing and self-isolation, they began to discuss how they could help in a proactive way during this uncertain time.

Moira Windsor-Morris, owner says: “We looked into how we could help our local community, particularly focusing on the Chesil Street end of Winchester. We discussed our thoughts and shared our feedback from locals with our trusted suppliers, who were keen to partner with us to help provide a food delivery service to Winchester areas.

It is an uncertain time for many families, the vulnerable and small businesses like us – we’re keen to use the resources, staff and time we have to help where we can, as well as supporting other local businesses who will struggle during this uncertain economic period.

For those with the means we urge you to turn to small businesses where you can, as opposed to relying on over-stretched supermarkets during this tricky time.”

400 leaflets including a large fold out menu of breakfasts, lunches, cakes and essential groceries were delivered locally and the phone quickly started ringing with orders. Interestingly, many orders were from a number of elderly residents advised to stay indoors, who were concerned about how they were going to get food in, had had little to no contact with the outside world for several days, and were scared to leave the house. Social media announcements and online advertisement of help is not necessarily reaching those most in need of it.

So, with a caring, responsible and friendly approach, The Bridge Patisserie will commence their new delivery service allowing the community to gain access to their suppliers and trade accounts – and who knows, it may end up becoming a regular aspect of their business in the long-term.