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22/10/2009 - Kay's Launches Gala New Food Hall at Blanchardstown Centre

At the end of October Kay’s Restaurants will launch a gala new Food Hall at Blanchardstown Centre. Kay’s Food Hall marks a vital new catering departure for Bart & Bernie Glover in Blanchardstown Centre having traded successfully from the existing location for 13 years. Kay’s Restaurant is moving across the mall from its existing location to a larger 5000 square ft outlet with 200 seats to house the new Food Hall.

The new Food Hall will maintain the Kay’s tradition of real food cooked by real chefs, as well as offering an extensive range of additional options, including an in-house bakery, a Wok Station, a hot food counter, a speciality coffee corner and a gourmet sandwich section.
In addition to this there will be a confectionary section and a mezzanine area with a sports bar with plasma screens to cater for the sometimes reluctant male shopper.

The Food Hall has an open plan design to allow customers to go directly to their counter of choice in order to minimise queuing. The design also facilitates an open kitchen, so customers can interact with the chefs and view them at work at each station.

A range of new and different cuisines will feature on an ongoing basis through onsite chef cookery demonstrations. Food seminars, talks and demonstrations will form part of the Kay’s Food Hall offering during the year.

The interior design puts major focus on the mother and baby customer, with a self-service bottle-warming station, where mothers can heat the bottles to the chosen temperature. The layout also ensures plenty of space for ease of passage for buggies and prams. A buggy park is also provided.

Bart Glover says this is a huge investment for Kay’s and he and his team have been developing the Food Hall concept for a number of years.
“The decision to develop the Food Hall in Blanchardstown Centre results from our well established knowledge and experience of the Centre over the years, in addition to a good working relationship with the Landlord, Green Property, and provides both parties an opportunity to give the customer an updated, upmarket facility in strained economic circumstances. As the number one shopping centre in Ireland,with the highest turnover, Blanchardstown Centre gives us the required footfalls to make the Food Hall work. We have great confidence in the Centre as a vibrant location that continues to grow and innovate, which is fundamental to the success of this latest venture.”

Joe Gavin, General Manager Blanchardstown Centre has welcomed Kay’s new Food Hall:
“With an average weekly footfall of 300,000 we are fully focused on improving our food offer within the Centre. We feel Kay's Food hall will deliver a high standard of food within a comfortable and spacious area which I am sure will improve the customer experience in Blanchardstown Centre" (Joe Gavin, General Manager, Blanchardstown Centre)
The original Kay was Bart’s mother, who ran a small cafe in Dunnes Stores, Donaghmede, selling soup and sandwiches. “However, the good people of Donaghmede wanted some home cooking and above all proper chips. Bernie, my wife, was being made redundant as Chrysler Ireland was closing down and so with my help Kay’s Kitchen was born in 1979. Having arranged its launch I went back to selling trucks.”

In addition to Kay’s Food Hall, Bart has a second Kay’s Cafe in Blanchardstown Centre; Kay’s restaurant in Donaghmede Shopping Centre and also one in Clare Hall Shopping Centre. Kay’s also runs the Roastery restaurant at the Java Republic in Ballycoolin, Blanchardstown. This year Bart joined forces with North-South Retail and The Pop Company to form and operate Maple Moose, a quality Crepes and Ice Cream offer.

Bart says good a quality food offering that gives value for money is vital for the catering industry in the current climate: “The catering industry must be innovative and provide new value offerings to attract customers. It is a consumer’s market now and we must strive to meet the demands of that market.”
Bart says that the secret to the success of Kay’s restaurant chain since the launch of the first restaurant in Donaghmede Shopping Centre thirty years ago is simple quality through the real food offering:
“Everything is cooked by our chefs and served the same day. We don’t use freezers. We have been developing the Food Hall concept for some years now. We want the customer to experience good Irish produce cooked by professional chefs at a price that suits their daily budget.”

For Further information/ interview requests, please contact:

Emily Cox, Cox Communications, emilyjcox@gmail.com, 086 3832703
 

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