Hearty Wholesome &

Owner, 34-year old Anna Lamb, owns corporate catering company Crate & Pallet and the Wilmington Café on Hull’s Foster Street – located in a converted railway ticket office with a cosy log burner. The success of these two businesses, within a short space of three years, enabled Anna to be more adventurous and personally invest £40k into Nibble, which opened in January 2016.

Originally from Wrexham, North Wales, Anna was working as a trouble shooter for Inventive Leisure, opening Revolution Bars across the North. In 2008 she made the decision to relocate to Hull to manage the Revolution Bar after falling in love with a city that she described as “so friendly, on the up, with lots happening”.

Subsequently, Anna promoted tourism for the area as a Sales Manager for Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY) and then became an Account Manager at Fred, a local creative marketing agency based in the heart of Hull’s marina. It was during this role that she was the Account Manager for Wykeland, the area’s leading property development company, responsible for the commercial development of the Fruit Market area, including the £14m @ TheDock site where Nibble has now opened.

“After years of working long and hard hours in hospitality, I was excited by the opportunity to open Nibble, I took the plunge and funded it myself” Anna said. “I haven’t received any grant assistance at all, but FEO (For Entrepeneurs Only) did provide a free eight week Bootcamp course in 2012 which provided me with invaluable business contacts, start-up help and advice for which I will always be grateful.”

“People don’t want fuss – just hearty wholesome food served by a friendly face,” Anna said. “We aim to go above and beyond in terms of customer service, all the team are friendly and always smiling – we know the majority of our customers by name already. It’s all open plan so it’s important to me that the atmosphere throughout is not tense but friendly and welcoming. We have a real team spirit and we all chip in – I’m often the chief pot-washer!”

The food at Nibble is fresh and healthy; bestsellers include their daily hot specials, toasted panini, soup of the day, homemade cakes and a homemade gourmet sandwich which differs every day. The cafe is already proving popular, and with further investment into the surrounding area already underway – Nibble is in a prime position to be a huge success. Current developments surrounding the café include; a new £700k 350-seat amphitheatre named Stage @TheDock, extended office space @ TheDock. Further commercial, retail and residential schemes from Wykeland Beal currently under construction.

Anna’s future plans include investing in new equipment and a chiller for “grab and go” drinks and sandwiches. She’s also looking forward to seeing customers take a rug and picnic upstairs to enjoy the roof-top garden in the warmer weather, as well as introducing evening opening for dinner.