Q: How did Mary’s Kitchen come into being?
A: Myself and my son Ricky, aged 12, opened a collectibles store, Lads n Dads Trading Card Games, in January this year, specialising in trading card games, Pokemon cards, etc… We wanted to offer food but unfortunately the retail space just wasn’t big enough to accommodate that. Then the building next door became available – it seemed a perfect space to turn into a cafe, and where we could knock through to make them more obviously linked to each other.
Q: How did the name come about?
A: Mary’s Kitchen is named after my late grandma Mary Hutchinson; I absolutely adored my grandma and spent a lot of my childhood with my grandparents. I always said if I ever owned a café or restaurant I would name it after her.
A peek inside the cafe
Dale is thrilled with the results of the renovation
Mary’s Kitchen is next to Lads ‘n’ Dads Card Trading Shop
Q: Is it in a good location?
A: It’s a great location in Lowtown, Pudsey – an up-and-coming central strip of Pudsey gaining more and more local popularity each week.
Q: Describe the interior of the cafe.
A: Mary’s kitchen is a Pokemon-themed cafe with a very contemporary style, designed to cater and attract all ages. We have seating for 17 people within the café and a further 26 people in the adjoining Lads ‘n’ Dads trading card games store.
Q: What sort of food do you serve?
A: Our current menu offers a wide range of food, starting from the quintessential breakfast menu, running all the way through smash burgers, hotdogs, loaded fried, sandwiches and desserts. Our head chef Tegan is currently working on some theme nights, which will include Italian, Japanese and of course Sunday roast.
Q: What dishes are among the most popular?
A: The entire menu is very popular with the locals, but the most popular dishes by far are the butter chicken loaded fries and the ultimate breakfast.
Q: Do you change your menus seasonally?
A: Certainly – our autumn/winter menu has foot-long hot baguettes. All joints are cooked in-house, served on fresh baguettes, including a honey mustard gammon, herb crusted roast beef and stuffing, pork, stuffing and apple, and our new Yorkshire pudding wraps.
Q: Who does the cooking?
A: Our head chef Tegan is who I really want to shout about. She is 21 years-old and, for her age, is absolutely worlds ahead in her field.
Tegan is the daughter of a good friend of mine, Jamie. When we decided to open the café, I had no one else in my mind for the job other than Tegan, and she has gone on to prove it was the right decision. A week before the renovation of the building began, Tegan had an operation on her foot; I told her I was going to push back the renovation and opening to accommodate her being out of action for a while. She would have none of it. She came into the café with her foot in a medical boot, and proceeded to lay out, design and put together our entire commercial kitchen. She is a credit to herself and her family and shows nothing but determination and pride in everything she does. She runs the kitchen to such a high standard – this was proven recently with our first food hygiene inspection – we received a five-star rating.
Head chef Tegan is an asset to the cafe
There’s an extensive menu
Q: Do you have a lot of regulars from the local area?
A: We have been blown away by the support, we have already built up a regular customer base, some come every day. It’s great to see how Mary’s is developing as a popular food destination in the local area.
Q: How do you cater for children?
A: We offer quite a large kids’ menu. All kids’ meals are £7.50, which includes a Fruit Shoot and a soft scoop ice cream fresh from our machine. We also offer space for pram parking, supply high chairs and offer baby changing facilities. We have free colouring pencils and materials for kids. My children Ricky, Evelyn and Grace love it.
Q: Can customers being their dogs?
A: Many do, and we love it. Our staff are very much dog people and we welcome all dog owners and their pets. Me and my wife, Rebecca, have a golden retriever, Thor, who often makes an appearance. Tegan has more pets than I can count and our manager Charlotte’s dog Martha often spends a few days next door in our collectibles shop.
Q: Do you sell food to take away?
A: We do – all our food and drink is available for takeaway – you can either order directly over the phone or we are available in Just-Eat, Deliveroo, and soon Uber Eats too.
Q: Do you feel like part of the community in Pudsey – how important is this to you?
A: We certainly do feel like a part of the community, we have had an overwhelming response since we opened and this was a big part of what we were going for, I’ve had other businesses in Pudsey for the last 12 years, all of which have always had great support, I have lived in Pudsey all my life – 36 years; my children are growing up here, my parents have always lived here and the namesake of the café itself, my grandma, well both my grandparents, always lived here. Pudsey is our home and always will be.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: At the moment, were still young in Pudsey, but hopefully in the future we would like to expand into either a larger premises, creating more of a restaurant feel, or maybe even open Mary’s Kitchen in other areas – who knows?
Q: Please add anything else you’d like to say.
A: We are a licensed premises so do offer alcohol (very responsibly, given the nature of the clientele of all ages that we have in the store) we also have a license to sell alcohol to be consumed off the premises, so we offer this for delivery also.
I’d also like to give special mention to a few people who have helped make Mary’s Kitchen a reality. A good friend of mine, Jamie, has played a big part in all our design work, he designs our menus and all the graphics we use, and what a job he has done. Charlotte manages the cafes front of house and our collectibles shop; she is my eyes and ears when I am not around and I could not have done half of it without her.
My parents Mark and Linda – my dad helps us with the deliveries every day and my mum comes daily to help out. When were renovating the place, they were there non-stop and their unwavering support is something I won’t ever forget. My wife Rebecca’s support and knowledge from her years working in the hospitality industry helped us to hit the ground running and finally, my son Ricky, for the inspiration to do it all – he’s the ideas man; without him starting the fire Mary’s Kitchen wouldn’t be here, so thank you to each of you, truly
*Mary’s Kitchen, 17 Lowtown Pudsey LS28 7BQ. Mary’s Kitchen is on Facebook.