When Tom Pickett and his partner Phoebe Hall first opened The Edge Eatery in Witney during the pandemic, “READ OUR REVIEW OF THE EDGE EATERY HERE he’s the first to admit it was a steep learning curve. “We had no idea what we were doing,” he laughs,”just a vision to open our own cafe and nothing more.”
An immediate success, The Edge at Lils on Corn Street READ OUR REVIEW OF THE EDGE AT LILS HERE followed last year, its burger/taco offering equally as popular – we still think they serve the best burgers in Oxfordshire for what it’s worth!
And now here we are talking about their next project – a cafe/deli cum bakery opening in January in the Hexagon Business Centre in Witney’s Station Lane, where there is a big co-working sauce.
The Edge Deli will be open to the public, as well as catering for the numerous companies and businesses within, and is currently being refurbed for The Edge to move into in the New Year.
Boasting a large kitchen, which Tom and Phoebe aim to use to prep food for all their businesses, the new space will enable them to run a breakfast/brunch/toastie/salad menu as well as a full deli and shop stocking local produce. The in-house bakery will produce their own sourdough, bao buns, banana bread, Viennese pastries and much more.
Tom and Phoebe also plan to bottle and sell their own sauces there, cue stampeded for their legendary BBQ, Korean and burger sauces.
“Yes it’s really exciting. We’ve known about it for a year but now that the refurb is underway it’s OK to tell everyone about it,” Tom says.
As for the food, all The Edge’s fans will be eagerly awaiting the new menu. So what can we expect? “As we have the bakery onsite it will be largely based around that, but we will do things like fresh juices and smoothies and shakshuka eggs in the oven. We don’t want The Edge Deli to compete with the our other restaurants because they are just down the road, so it will be a bit different,” Tom explains.
The current refurb should take 8-12 weeks and is being undertaken by a professional building company but Tom and Phoebe still want to give it that distinctive The Edge twist with wooden tables and lots of plants. “We are looking at creating the same kind of vibe as Lil’s and The Eatery but more refined,” Tom adds.
As for the crowd-funding idea, Tom says: It’s something we’ve never done before and we are not asking people to give us money, but we are selling vouchers for meals and discounts. Tap Social recommended it as a great way of getting your name out there and creating a bit of a hype around the opening to make sure people know about The Edge Deli, so we will launch that today (Sunday Nov 3). We thought with Christmas coming it might be a good present idea,” Tom adds.
Vouchers range from a £10 meal voucher to use in any of the sites to a £400 voucher for a coffee every day of the year (worth over £1000). Throw in the £200 bottomless brunch at Lil’s voucher for six people, a £150 VIP card allowing 20% off at any of the sites all year or a £60 voucher for an evening meal at Lil’s with a bottle of wine and you’ll understand the appeal.
And with the opening date looming, how are Tom and Phoebe feeling about opening a fourth tier to their business, if you include their Edge event truck? “We are so excited and have a great team behind us. Phoebe will continue to be the executive chef, working in menu development and working between the four sites while I get on with developing the business
“And it will be great thing is having access to such a big kitchen – the new site will give us so much more space. And we have an incredible baker lined up as well.
So how do they feel now reflecting on the past few years? “It’s strange looking back because we have learned so much since we opened The Eatery in 2020, so to be expanding even further is incredible. But we are confident in what we are delivering. The Edge Deli just seems like the right next move and a natural progression to what we are already offering. So yes it’s exciting.
To find out more on The Edge Deli and buy a crowd funding voucher find them on Instagram at @theedgedeli and watch this space for more news.
