‘Really shocked’: Manager reaction as closed-down healthy cafe is named in the Good Food Awards 2022

A healthy food cafe has been named in the Good Food Awards 2022 - despite closing back in April.

Cafe Matariki, part of Pacific Yoga at Finzels Reach, closed down permanently having only been open for two months of the year, partly down to lockdown restrictions.

Manager Janice Heskett said the decision was also made due to the planned sale of The Brewhouse venue by Pacific Yoga, which is also no longer in operation.

She said she was ‘naturally really shocked’ when she discovered this week that the cafe had won at the Good Food Awards for the third year running.

Speaking to BristolWorld, Ms Heskett, who previously worked at Bedminster-based Kates Kitchen, said: “Last year when we won the award we were delighted. This year we were left surprised.

“But it has made us want to look for a new place even more to continue offering something similar again.”

The cafe was opened by Pacific Yoga at its Finzels Reach base four years ago and offered healthy meals such as soup of the day, salad plates and vegetarian tarts.

But the eatery was forced to close during lockdown last year, before reopening in February this year.

However, rules requiring table service led it to close again in April due to staffing levels.

Earlier, during the initial lockdown in 2020, the cafe had diversified with the opening of Seven Sisters Deli.

But that also closed in April, leaving Ms Heskett solely selling her award-winning food on delivery website Good Sixty.

But Ms Heskett said she now hoped to open a deli elsewhere in the city.

She said: “We are looking for new premises to continue as a cafe offering the food and service we did at Cafe Matariki.

“We’d love to open at Wapping Wharf,” she added.