Starting Up with Chloe Horner @ Oxfork

When Oxfork was a mere glint in my eye in 2010, while I was working for the lovely Tony Abarno and Florence Fowler at The Magdalen Arms, I never dreamt for one moment I’d be sitting here writing this four years later.

And what a rollercoaster it’s been – for the uninitiated here’s how Oxfork was cooked up. Oxfork started life as a bit of a whim. My friend and co-cook Becky Craven and I had recently spotted the trend in London (and beyond) for underground and pop-up restaurants and decided it might be fun to have a go at one ourselves.

The name came from a friend I used to work with in music – his tongue firmly in his cheek – but we rather liked it.

We started the supper club in January 2011 and themed the evenings around events (Burns Night, Valentine’s), ingredients (asparagus, cheese) and anything else we thought could be fun (Soul Food, 1970’s). People took a chance and came for dinner, they had fun and word spread far more quickly than we anticipated.

All our events sold out well in advance and we found we couldn’t meet demand, so needed to expand.

A few more like-minded folk got involved, including my first business partner, Drew Brammer (now at the helm of Keen Bean, Brew and The Chester Arms) and we decided to expand into the exciting world of pop-up restaurants.

We produced Locally Sourced (a dinner party for over 100 using exclusively local food) at The Old Bookbinders just off Cowley Road, and worked in conjuction with The Star and The Ultimate Picture Palace on a dinner and movie night.

We went to The Rotunda in Iffley and produced a Graham Greene inspired evening with some austerity classics on the menu, an interactive food/art piece with The Project Room and local graffiti artist, Kleiner Shames and with the help of our pal Ian Nolan ran a night at the derelict boot factory on St Mary’s Road.

Drew and I chanced upon 39 Magdalen Road just after the Oxford Cycle Workshop closed. We took on the lease having no idea if we could raise the money or even get permission to open a café. But we loved it so much we felt we’d get there by enthusiasm alone.

Seven months later we opened the doors to Oxfork. Our approach to the café was more defined than anything we’d done previously. The bank, friends and our folks had all lent us money, so we knew that whatever we did we’d need to pay them back.

We lived in East Oxford and knew the bedrock of our business should be something not currently available.

We focused on coffee (then a much rarer commodity in OX4) and a really good breakfast. UE Coffee helped Drew formulate our own blend, while Becky and I rattled through all our breakfast favourites to come up with a tasty menu.

We didn’t want to lose touch with our pop-up roots and worked on a number of music and food collaborations in unusual venues, as well as working with our suppliers on some really interesting and fun food-based events.

Both Becky and I had been involved with East Oxford Farmers Market and are passionate about local produce.

We wanted to bring this delicious food to a wider audience, hence our use of some great local suppliers including North Aston Dairy and Organics, Sandy Lane Farm, UE Coffee, Crudges Cheese, Tiddly Pommes, Lindsey’s Butchers, Natural Bread Company and Willowbrook Farm.

From the outset we decided that all our specials should be seasonal and based on the best local stuff we could lay our hands on (not as easy as it sounds during the couple of months a year where only carrots and beetroot are in abundance!) At the beginning of 2013 Drew moved on to the Chester Arms and the excellent Jess Gervers became by business partner.

We both decided to focus on Oxfork as more of a lifestyle business, rather than trying to grow bigger, or make more money. We wanted a model that was more sustainable and would work best for us, our staff and suppliers. This streamlining paid off with us serving food to upwards of 750 customers a week with an array of breakfasts, seasonal specials and homemade cakes.

And this is pretty much where you would have found us as the year drew to a close… except that as we were preparing to take our staff out for a Christmas knees-up, and close up shop for a couple of days, Jess and I both found out we were pregnant. In fact, so in-sync is our relationship that our babies are due to be born just 10 days apart.

We thought long-and-hard about what to do about Oxfork. On balance we both felt that staying at the helm would be impossible and so in early 2014 we set out to find someone like-minded to continue making Oxfork great.

After a couple of false starts we met Adam O’Boyle and the team behind the Turl Street Kitchen. It quickly became clear that we shared a similar ethos and ideals.

So, it’s with a some sadness (and great optimism) that over the next couple of weeks Jess and I will be handing over our baby to these new, capable folks, and shortly after have our own babes in arms.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who’s helped us along the way, bought a coffee, bun or breakfast, put up their pictures or supplied us with ingredients/good humour.

To follow my adventures in food, go to facebook.com/whatchloecookednext

TRY IT
Oxfork is at 39 Magdalen Road, Oxford, OX4 1RB
Call 01865 243280 or see oxfork.com