Licensees replenish at new onsite Oasis cafe
Basepoint Dartford welcomes new licensees Dawn & Jo this week who tookover on site cafe 'Crystals'
On 1st February, Dawn & Jo took over the ownership of Crystal Cafe, one of the converted units at Basepoint Dartford. Soon to be revamped and reopening as 'Oasis Coffee & Sandwich Bar', they have been working tirelessly on new menus and getting to know licensees in the centre.
Unit 74 was converted into a cafe some years ago and is a popluar choice for visitors to the centre and licensees. Previous owners Jo & Anthony decided to sell up last year and this was just the business Jo & Dawn were looking to invest in. Here's what they have to say:
'We have known each other since we were young children, being family friends. By our late teens, we ended up becoming step sisters and our relationship has just got better and better. We both have a similar sense of humour and personalities and love having a laugh, we also like our holidays and our parents moved to Cyprus around ten years ago, so we often nip over there for the odd weekend! We have worked together for almost 20 years at this stage, in a small independant estate agency in Blackheath Village, South East London. We have loved our time working in Blackheath but over the last year or so, there have been many reasons we have decided to make a change. The sales market since Brexit has been appalling, the lettings market is being swamped with paperwork and legislation, not to mention we find ourselves queuing on the A2 for hours on end each day. So after a really tough year we decided that life is for living and now would be a fantastic time to do something we really enjoy. We both have large families and have always enjoyed cooking and entertaining for large numbers of friends and family so to us, this is a great opportunity. Our plan for Crystals is to start implementing a lot more home made cooking and a wider choice of healthier lunches. The way it has turned out, Jo seems to be the savoury specialist, whilst it has become clear Dawns forte is cakes, bakes and biscuits! Jo does a mean line in Slimming World savouries and Dawn is used to cooking for her coeliac daughter so is happy to make gluten free choices. There will be a suggestions box and in the first few weeks we will be watching and listening to what people would like. Over the coming weeks Crystals will be renamed Oasis Coffee and Sandwich Bar, with our full revamp taking place over the Easter weekend'.
Basepoint would like to welcome Jo & Dawn to the centre and are looking forward to trying the new menus!