Now there are now only a few seats within the café, which overall Sue, 59, describes as ‘working brilliantly’.
Sue, who has always worked within the hospitality industry, said: ‘I opened Whistlestop before Covid struck, during this period we were primarily busy with commuters, but once the pandemic began to worsen, we lost business from all of those customers, so we were severely impacted - then we had to close because of lockdown.
‘However, as soon as we were allowed to reopen, we did so as a takeaway service, which was only possible because of my amazing team, made up of five loyal, flexible workers.
‘With being a small independent business as well, you don’t get the same help that the bigger franchises get, so we were flying solo.
‘The main reason we were fortunate enough to survive was down to our local customers who continued to visit us when they could, we picked up a lot of passing trade. We also believe in good customer service and finally good, hard teamwork.’
Whistlestop Café sells a variety of food and drink from fresh coffee and cream cakes to hot sausage rolls and meat pies. Its milkshakes, made using soft whippy ice cream, are its best sellers.
Sue, who lives in Denvilles, said: ‘I have always wanted to have my own business, but with having a family, I put my four children first, but now they’re all old enough - I thought why not just go for it!
‘So, that’s what I did, you have to follow your dreams, whatever age you are - you have to follow that dream that you have.’
Story by Sophie Gibbons
Promote your business with The News
We have seen how tough the past year has been on businesses so we’ve decided to do our bit to help by offering a new way for businesses to market - and a lower cost.
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- How do I sign up?
Email your local rep Liz Wiffin on [email protected] to get signed up
For further business support contact Emma Weatherstone, membership advisor Portsmouth & Solent Federation of Small Businesses on [email protected] or 07764432489