Features / Cafes
The secrets behind a popular Bristol cafe’s success
Charlotte Hawe sits outside the newest Fed cafe on a recent morning as the buzz of excited chatter filters out from inside.
Fed’s co-owner is sitting underneath what has become a talking point in the neighbourhood: the reveal of a handpainted sign for newsagent and confectioner J Laver which had previously occupied these premises, as well as an advert for Woodbine: ‘the great little cigarette’.
The sign is also instant Instagram fodder, as much of Fed has become – especially its bountiful displays of fresh produce – since their first cafe on Gloucester Road opened in 2018.
Fed now has three cafes: at 303 Gloucester Road, here on Abbotsford Road in Cotham (following a brief pop-up on nearby Cotham Hill) and within Glitch on Old Market Street.
Originally from Falmouth in Cornwall, Charlotte opened Fed with her partner Ross Rawlings and they now employ 30 staff across their three sites.
Listen to Charlotte talk more about Fed in the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
“We just dreamed one day of having our own place,” said Charlotte, who was the general manager at Boston Tea Party on Gloucester Road before opening Fed just a few doors away.
Ross was also a GM at BTP in their Cheswick Village cafe, with the pair meeting while working together at Gylly Beach Cafe in Falmouth.
“We were just absolutely bursting to give it a go ourselves and just really believed in the food that we wanted to share with people.
“We thought it would be well received so we just did it!”
Fed co-owner Charlotte Hawes outside Fed’s newest cafe in Cotham
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more: New cafe and bar brings speciality coffee and cocktails to Totterdown
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