Ferry Meadows food offering to benefit from £200,000 investment

Operator Raj Regmi, who also runs the Lakeside Kitchen and Bar at the Lakeside Centre in the park, has spoken of his plans as he has extended his lease at both outlets for another 10 years.

Raj and his team have run the venues since 2013 and he says part of the success is down to not standing still and investing in the businesses.

With new outdoor seating also planned at Lakeside, his spending on improvements will top £200,000.

It is all a far cry from when he first became involved after his wife convinced him to apply .

“This is where things started for me so I have a very emotional attachment to this place,” said Raj who now also runs four other hospitality businesses.

“I was working in a London hotel when the opportunity came up to tender for the cafe. I did not have a company set up or anything but I thought I might apply to see how far I would get.

“ My wife convinced me to go for it , so I did and luckily Nene Park bought into my ideas.”

Those ideas pretty much instantly raised turnover and made the cafe profitable before he took on the Lakeside too.

“When we took over they were turning over about £500,000 and in nine years we have increased that to £1.5million. That is because we care about these businesses and what we do here. We chop and change things as feel we need to and we invest in these businesses.”

With his lease now secure for the next decade Raj has a long-term vision to make this a £2million-plus business in the next couple of years.

The cafe will benefit from a refurbishment which will create a “farm” feel.

“We are looking at improving the overall space we have available to us at the cafe”, he said. “That includes creating more outdoor space and installing an electric or wood-fired pizza oven.

“So many people come to the cafe and ‘grab and go” - so we will add pizza to the toasties and jacket potatoes that people can eat outside or take away to eat in the park.”

Lakeside Kitchen and Bar is more of a destination venue and a totally different offering, he points out.

It will get new outside furniture, from where visitors can enjoy watching the water sports, as well as new crockery, cutlery and menu boards which will “add value to the dining experience”.