Sugarcane Cafe and Bistro Sugarcane Cafe Bistro, The Square, Newtownards, United Kingdom

Sugarcane Cafe Bistro is a family run business that is now 10 years old and was founded by husband and wife, Peter and Emma McCleery. Neither of us had a background in catering but we did have a clear view from the outset of what we wanted our business to represent. We travel quite a bit and on our travels we picked up little snippets of ideas and wrote them down. We intensified this approach locally and would spend many hours in our favourite and not so favourite places, watching how staff interacted with the customers, how the “opposition” did things and how we felt the customer would feel. We wanted to create a local, friendly store based on the European Cafe style. We wanted a little bit of that style in Comber. Somewhere where you would be comfortable sipping a glass of Sauvignon as you would be sipping our fantastic local Suki tea or Segafredo coffee.

You see, we always thought that the most important person in our store would be the customer. Often taken for granted, the customer is the key to a successful business as truth be told, no business can survive, nor flourish without repeat customers. We treat each and every one like a long lost friend who just happened to walk into our home. Sugarcane is our home from home and we feel that the customer recognises this when they leave us. We have made many new friends on this journey.

Of course customer service is just 1 thing in a business armoury. The product is also key. That’s why we also sought out and use the best of local produce that we could find. We are passionate about our products. Where possible we use suppliers that can walk the goods to us. Comber has some great Bakers and Butchers and Co. Down is synonymous with great vegetables and free range eggs. We use all these network of people and suppliers to bring great value and great tasting dishes to the table. We truly hope that you too can see what we have tried to achieve and always do things with a big dollop of Sugarcane love. We feel it’s worked for us as we continue to grow and expand. Once just a simple cafe we are now open 7 days a week, with late opening 5 nights for our Bistro.