Kirkby sandwich shop marks 15 years in business with a celebratory relaunch

Fiona Fillingham, owner of Taste, on Low Moor Road, decided to make the start of 2023 more than just about celebrating the new year by giving her business a makeover with a new look, new colours and fresh zeal for the coming years ahead.

And she hopes it will mark the start of another 15 years of being a staple of the Kirkby business scene.

She said: “I’m very happy and wanted to celebrate us reaching 15 years in business, which is pretty good going these days.

“I admit I never thought when I started up that I’d still be going 15 years later and I’ve had down times – I even put it up for sale twice.

“I’ve thought ‘I can’t carry on, I can’t keep climbing this mountain’.

“But then I’d be showing people around and each time I’d start thinking ‘no, you’re not having my shop, it’s my baby’ and I would take it off the market again.

“We hear so much doom and gloom about small businesses going under and we’re still here and I feel very lucky to have pulled through all the tough times like the Covid pandemic and be still going strong.”

Fiona puts Taste’s endurance and ongoing popularity with not just the people of Kirkby, but others from the surrounding areas too, down to a loyal customer base and a good product that keeps them coming back for more.

She said: “You’ve got to have a quality product or people won’t keep coming.

“I’ve also got the contract to supply Available Car on the A38 and the new Amazon Warehouse contract and if the food’s right and the staff are right, then people will keep coming back.

“We look after them and they’re more than just customers now, they’re our friends.

“Hitting this milestone and doing this relaunch has given me some new vigour and new enthusiasm and I’m just looking forward to the future even more now.”