Café Maitreya will no longer open in the daytimes

From the beginning of May 2006 Café Maitreya will focus on evening business and no longer open during the daytimes. We will continue to open in the evenings as usual (Tuesday to Saturday from 6.45pm).

Why is this? Our small kitchen is always flat out trying to meet the demands of a busy daytime café and evening restaurant. This is especially true at the weekends when demand is greatest and (without wishing to compromise quality!) something needs to change.

Another factor is that Café Maitreya is now so busy in the evenings that we’re regularly turning people away and many customers struggle to get a table. We obviously want to meet this demand but haven’t been able to. We now plan to use our upstairs room to accommodate overflow dining, particularly larger groups. Whilst we’ve used this space in the past it’s been occasional (rather than regular) as we’ve still been limited by kitchen capacity. Now, without a competing daytime menu, our kitchen team can focus solely on preparing for the evenings.

And finally, finances have played a part in the decision. We’ve always enjoyed the buzz of a busy café on Saturday or Sunday lunch but the truth is it doesn’t really work financially. When absolutely packed we break-even but over the full year we’ve always lost money in the daytimes. This is because we’re only small and because we’ve always wanted to serve top quality food at a reasonable price. The time has finally come when we’ve had to decide if we’re an evening restaurant or daytime café, as we can’t remain both without considerable personal cost, both emotional and financial.

This has been a very difficult decision and a long time in the gestation. I’m personally very sad and realise that many others will be disappointed too. I only hope that someone else opens a great café in Easton soon!

Many thanks to all our loyal customers. We hope we will continue to see many of you in the evenings but our sanity demands that we stop serving in the daytimes. I hope people will understand this decision.

And finally, our evenings continue as usual – Tuesdays to Saturdays from 6.45pm.
Please remember to book for the evenings as we’re usually busy!