Changes to our food service times
- Published:
Following your feedback, we wanted to explain why we made the recent decision to close our kitchen at 6pm.
In December we received confirmation of a 44% cut to our Arts Council Wales funding. In real terms, this represents a loss of 50% of our secure income each year. As a charity, this is a real challenge and we’ve spent the last few months exploring different ways that we can increase income and save on costs, in the hope that we can remain open as an arts centre and important civic space.
Many years ago, our caffi bar was set up to generate income, the profit from which was directed back into our programme and charitable work. Until 2020 this was very successful and enabled us to fund our activities with artists and communities across performance, visual art and film, as well as in engagement and learning programmes. Post-Covid, Brexit and in a cost-of-living crisis, we simply are not making any profit and this, coupled with our funding cut, is having a profound impact on our organisation.
We’ve had to make some very difficult decisions so that we can continue to keep our doors open. We monitored our visitors’ habits, and it was clear that staying open to serve food in the evenings was not good business. We were losing money, and this was impacting the charity.
Like many of our colleagues in hospitality the last 18 months have been incredibly hard and we’re sorry that we’ve struggled to bring you a consistent, quality offer. However, in March we welcomed our new Head Chef Simmie Vedi, who brings with her a wealth of experience in creating delicious, seasonal dishes that showcase the very best in Welsh produce.
Since she joined us, Simmie has been busy with her team preparing to launch our brand-new menu – look out for this in the coming weeks! Our new food offer will be available as one menu, right through the day, from 9am-6pm. For the time-being, we won’t be serving food after 6pm; we need to focus our energies where there is the greatest demand – which is during the day! If you find yourself peckish after 6pm, we’ll be able to offer you a selection of homemade bar snacks to keep the wolf from the door!
As we refocus and rebuild, we’ll be looking at ways we can eventually introduce a varied menu in the evenings. This may include regular evening pop-ups that showcase some of Cardiff’s best street food, or special events to bring us all together around art and conversation. We’ll keep you posted on this!
We know that everyone is struggling at the moment but if you can support us by buying a coffee, breakfast, lunch or a cake that will go a long way. Better still, why not become a Chapter Friend – alongside exclusive offers you’ll also receive a 10% discount on food and soft drinks in our caffi. You can find out how to join here or make a donation to support our charitable work here.
NEW OPENING TIMES & NEW MENU
Monday – Saturday 9am-6pm: all-day menu
Sunday 9am-4pm: Breakfast as normal and Sunday lunch only between 12 and 4pm
Thank you for your support!