A veteran of Bishop’s Stortford’s bustling café scene has taken over his own business – at the tender age of 20.
Oliver Colman is the new boss of South Street Pantry after honing his hospitality experience at Rosey Lea, where he started as a pot washer at just 13 and was promoted to manager within four years.
The former Thorn Grove primary and Birchwood High School student said: “I learned all about the trade – especially customer service.”
With a taste for the food and drink industry, he was hungry to strike out on his own and snapped up Danielle Thomas’ much-loved café.
His entrepreneurial spirit has been nurtured by his mum and dad, town centre business stalwarts Jackie and Perry Colman.
They own Elements hair and lifestyle on South Street and Urban Spa in Devoils Lane.
Oliver said: “They’ve been very supportive – they’re my business mentors. Without them I wouldn’t be in this place or have this mindset.”
Focusing his ambitions on South Street Pantry was an easy choice. Even when he worked at Rosey Lea, he would often
eat there.
His message to existing customers was reassuring: “Don’t expect too much to change too quickly – I’m not going to ruin the reason why it has so many regular customers. It’s a consistent, successful brand.”
There will be a few small tweaks in the short term, including the addition of hash browns to the menu, and Oliver hopes to invest in a new coffee machine.
Further down the line, culinary experiences on his travels may influence new dishes along with garden-to-table ingredients with an emphasis on home-grown produce.
He has retained South Street Pantry’s existing staff but is eager to recruit more.
He said: “I’m going to be here seven days a week, putting a shift in. I like to lead
by example. It’s going to be hard work but fun.”
While Oliver turns up the heat, Danielle will be taking a brief rest before the imminent arrival of her first child with husband Gareth.
She has run South Street Pantry for nine years and took the difficult decision to sell up so she can concentrate on motherhood.
Danielle carries the gene for Huntington’s disease – a rare, inherited condition that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
She helps care for her mother, Lisa, who has already developed the degenerative symptoms, but Danielle knows her much-wanted baby is clear.
She and Gareth conceived using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Last year, doctors at Guy’s Hospital in London tested cells from embryos created by IVF for Huntington’s disease and the couple, who live in Stansted, were overjoyed when their first implantation attempt was successful.
