Speciality Food Magazine May 2024

@specialityfood producers could showcase their wares, and where shoppers could find everything they needed, all under one roof, without relying on a trip to the multiples. “They had a chat,” says marketing manager Nick Punter, “and decided they really wanted to open a place that puts local food first.” Planning permission was granted around an old barn on family land, and the hall would open a year later, generating huge excitement in the area. “It’s nothing like it is now,” Nick says, acknowledging the business has grown and changed significantly over more than 15 years. “But they used a lot of the original barn space, and pillars and features in the renovation, and started with a butchery, grocery, deli and bakery, fishmonger, garden centre and gift and home store.” It was a significant investment, “and there was nothing else like it at the time,” says Nick. Today, Suffolk Food Hall is a go-to not only for shoppers and those fancying a spot of lunch or cup of coffee in the cafe or restaurant, but it’s an attraction in its own right, drawing in families, who love to sit outside on sunny days with something cool from the ice cream hut...or burn off steam on the bouncy pillow. Adding new reasons for different demographics and users to visit the site on a regular basis has been key to the success of this diversification project and “every year visitor numbers have grown,” says Nick. “We recently looked at our car park situation, and the longevity of stay, and it was a lot longer than we thought. People are coming here, and staying. We’d now say we are an attraction site. We’ve got the fresh counters, the cafe, the restaurant, the ice cream hut, food workshops.... there’s a lot going on.” Refurbishing the restaurant in February 2023 has also had an impact on visitor numbers. “We’ve seen an increase of around 34% on bookings,” reveals Nick. Growth has happened steadily on site, as the team grew to understand how and when customers were using the food hall, and what else they wanted to see. One of the biggest changes was the transformation of a secondary barn, creating a first floor restaurant with wide-reaching views over the water and countryside beyond, and a series of unit below, housing other tenant businesses. More recently a smaller cafe within the food hall has expanded to include a covered outdoor space and upstairs indoor dining area, meaning there are more opportunities than ever before for customers to stay and enjoy their time here. “Other changes have included the fact we brought the garden centre in house. It used to be run by Bourne Garden Centre, but we’ve made it our own. We’ve also expanded the bakery and deli counter, and the butchery has definitely grown. Half of it used to be a fishmonger. “We’ve got better outside seating, and more of it. We’re hosting more events and workshops. An outside assault course gym has opened. And I t takes a great deal of vision to stand in a field, survey a clutch of outbuildings and barns, and reimagine them as not just more than the sum of their parts, but something that could be truly extraordinary. To then see that vision come to fruition, and become more successful than you could have ever thought possible, must surely be a dream come true? The Paul family knew they were about to build something special when they broke ground on Suffolk Food Hall. Perched alongside the county’s iconic Orwell Bridge, and backing onto prime walking territory, the location screams ‘destination’. Coming from farming stock, predominantly trading in grain and animal feed, brothers Rob and AJ, and cousin Oliver, really believed in their idea, to create one of the country’s biggest rural food halls. A place where local and regional ‘Our business has become a tourist attraction’ Suffolk Food Hall exemplifies how successful a farm diversification project can be. As part of our Daring to Diversify series, we speak to the team to find out just what makes the destination tick 36