New coffee shop for Sleaford is a truly family concern

Rachael Hockmeyer and Christian Slingsby who run Hockmeyer's Garage at Holdingham officially opened their new venture today (Wednesday) in converted barns on their site.

The couple have opened a branch of Ireland's biggest coffee shop chain, Insomnia, which is now undergoing a rapid expansion programme across England too.

Rachael said: "Things were not 100 per cent right when we opened this morning, but we are nearly there now after a few teething troubles.

"We have already had a lot of people through the doors and it is fantastic. A lot of the customers are locals who have come in to say 'hello' and see what we have been doing all these months as they have been talking about it for ages and desperate to come in."

She said a lot of people were interested in testing out the menu to compare it to their usual preferences and she said the staff have been keen to cater for customer wishes.

Rachael said: "We have had a lady from Insomnia training us on the machines. It is really fantastic quality coffee and people have been liking it and saying how tempting all the cakes are."

As well as hot drinks and cakes, they do iced drinks, sandwiches and toasties.

The couple opted for a 'soft' opening rather than a big launch in order for staff to settle into their roles and get used to the systems, but expected business to pick up fast over the weekend.

The stylishly fitted out cafe benefits from free wifi and music with a dedicated area for passing business people to catch up with emails on their laptops.

As well as employing 10 staff Rachael and Christian's daughter, Jasmin, 17, is also working behind the counter to make a truly family concern.