Cardiff’s exciting new dining out experience on Castle Street officially opened to the public on Friday and got off to a phenomenal start generating over £80,000 for the local economy.
After a successful first weekend, up to 30 businesses could be talking part in the Castle Quarter Café initiative with many lined up to sign up by the weekend, providing an even wider choice of eateries for visitors to enjoy.
The new dining experience allows restaurants and cafes in the city centre to trade in a 240-seater, outdoor, covered, eating area in front of one of Cardiff’s most iconic landmarks – Cardiff Castle.
The new facilities have been put in place to allow businesses – which could struggle to operate profitably indoors because of the two metre distance regulations in Wales – to trade in a safe, socially-distanced outdoor setting.
Customers to the Castle Street Café use their smart phone to access an online platform by typing castle-yoello.com into their browsers or by scanning a QR code placed on their table. This allows them to order deliveries from a number of restaurants and cafes across the city. The customer pays through the secure payment platform and the food and drink is delivered to the table.
The new Castle Street facility has been warmly welcomed by businesses following the successful opening weekend.
Wok to Walk – ‘It has been really good. We have received a constant stream of orders to go along our normal in-store trade. We are really happy with how it is all working.’
Dusty Knuckle – ‘We have been taken aback by how popular it has been and it is fantastic what Cardiff Council, FOR Cardiff and Yoello have set up to support businesses such as ours. We have had to dramatically increase our stock to cope with demand as trade has been fantastic.’
Nata & Co – ‘It receives a big thumbs up from us as we have been very busy.’
Marco Pierre White – ‘‘we have been really pleased with the demand from the wonderful people of Cardiff. It has been a fantastic way of supporting the business and we are delighted to be part of it.’
Adrian Field, Executive Director of FOR Cardiff said: “We have been in constant contact with all of our members throughout this trying period, and hospitality being one of the last sectors to reopen has had its challenges to face. We are delighted to work with Yoello and Cardiff Council to bring an alfresco dining option to our businesses. We believe that this is a great opportunity for so many businesses to create additional covers for so many businesses who don’t have much space or resource to create their own digital solutions at this time.
Hearing that so many of our members have already seen a positive difference to their bottom line is exactly why we wanted to bring this opportunity to them and we’re delighted that after such a short amount of time it has already made a difference.”