Inspiration from a trip to Paris has been incorporated into a mobile café venture specialising in crêpes which has been set up by a young entrepreneur from Keswick.
Christian Fidoe, 21, has launched The Lake District Stop, a new mobile catering trailer operating in and around the Lake District.
As well as crêpes – ultra-thin pancakes common in France which can be made sweet or savoury – Christian will be selling the coffee and ice cream.
One of his first locations has been Keswick Rugby Club, in between the bottom and the top car park.
The camp site next door is open this Sunday, so he hopes to get a few customers from there as well. “That is really my starting point, just to get going,” he said.
A former Keswick School pupil, Christian, of Halls Mead, has lived in the town all his life.
Having always had a “business head” and the desire to become self-employed, he said he got the idea to sell crepes from a mobile unit was after he and his girlfriend, Harriet Dempsey, went to a fireworks show.
“There was one there and the queue was like 50 people long,” he said. “I just thought it is so busy round here in the Lakes, especially in summer, so the idea sparked from that.”
Having picked the trailer up at the start of February, Christian has fitted it out with a coffee machine plus a freezer for tubs of English Lakes ice cream.
He has also been honing his crêpe-making skills, having been inspired during a trip to Paris with Harriet, who hails from Workington, just before he took delivery of the trailer.
“We ate quite a lot of them there and I got a few ideas there from the different types of ingredients they used and how they were making them.
“At the minute we are just doing sweet ones including Biscoff, Kinder Bueno, Nutella chocolate spread and banana as well as lemon and sugar.
“We also do a summer berries with white chocolate and a summer berries just by itself,” he said.
Christian already has a few events and shows booked. The first will be the festival of light, which takes place on April 1, when he will be based outside the Rawnsley Centre, in Keswick’s Main Street.
He added: “The trailer will be parked in various locations around the Lake District and available to hire upon request. Whether this be for a party, sports event or festival, we cater for everyone.”
