The opportunity arose to take on Newcomb as a Franchise Owner, and I felt that I had what it took to operate the store. So in November 2018 I became the Franchise Owner!

In July 2019 I discovered I was pregnant with my first baby. Shocked and wondering how I was going to operate the store and be a new Mum, I asked Matt, who had worked for the previous owners, to join my team as the store manager. My baby, Violet, was born in April 2020, right as the Covid pandemic hit. ‘Challenging’ is an understatement, but we got through it!

In 2021 I fell pregnant again, and in May 2022 my son Oscar was born. I now juggle two young children and running the business. I’m not in the store full time but I’m always working on it. I have an excellent team who have the same values as I do.

Being a store owner, I thrive on being busy all the time – no two days are the same! Having built wonderful relationships with my employees and customers makes me love what I do. I also really enjoy training and educating my young staff and building a strong work ethic in them for when they move on to new jobs and careers. It’s a fast paced job and requires lots of multi-tasking.

I grew up in the area, not living there now, but the salon I worked at is also down the road so I know a lot of our customers as some also used to be my clients. I tend to talk a lot when I’m in store as I have built a lot of relationships with our customers, and having young children, they always like to know how you and your family are doing – I love it!

We stock the Lenard’s range in a display case with all products on offer. If we don’t have something our customers are looking for, we’ll always make it up for them, if we can. There are a lot of Lenard’s products from over the years! Our products are all hand-made fresh in-store from quality ingredients and the freshest chicken. Nothing is brought in or made off-site, it’s the difference and what we love.