Business has been so good for a local food firm that it has now opened its doors to a new deli within Oswaldtwistle Mills.
Olivia Ryans, home to a butcher, baker and sandwich-maker in Clayton le Moors, has been serving tasty treats to satisfied customers throughout East Lancashire since 1997, trading so successfully recently that it has embarked upon big expansion plans.
The new deli counter is the latest outlet for Olivia Ryans and Gourmet Catering whose main site is in Clayton le Moors, and has a café bar within Blackburn’s Evolution Park business centre, this latest concession means the operation has now grown to such a size that it has been able to bring its butcher and baker in-house.
And overseeing the quality of the food is a brand new head chef and manager, Neil Hogg, who cut his teeth working alongside Nigel Haworth of Northcote.
Proprietor Ian Baker-Smith said: “There have been some mouth-watering changes to Olivia Ryans in recent times and our produce has been snapped up by a whole new audience.
“We built our name serving the business community, catering for conferences and sportsmans dinners, and our customers have been telling us for some time that if we opened a shop the public would love us.”
Ian added: “It seemed like a brave move, but we went ahead and did it and the response has been fantastic. This has been our busiest year in memory and there are now so many options open to us that we can’t wait to get stuck in.”
Gourmet Catering had been providing catering for the new Oswaldtwistle Mills Business and Conference Centre when they first found out about the opportunity of a new offer at the Mill.
He said: “We met Boyd Hargreaves of Oswaldtwistle Mills earlier in the year, and he was fantastic in making the move and the expansion as pain free as possible. Now we have an idealic location with fantastic clientele.
“Also, being able to bring the butchers and bakers under our own roof at our Clayton site means that we have much greater control over the quality of the food produced and that will help everything run all the more smoothly.”
The new deli sells a range of cooked treats, salads, soups and cakes to shoppers, and complements Olivia Ryan’s existing cafés and Gourmet Catering’s offerings.
Boyd Hargreaves said: “We were familiar with the catering done by Gourmet, they have a good reputation for food in the area, and we were delighted when they approached us about moving into our premises.
“We know pretty quickly if new concession ventures are going to be successful. Olivia Ryan has started very positively and complements our exiting food retailers The Crumbly Cheese Deli, Ye Old Sausage shop and Rainhall drinks.”
