A COMMUNITY cafe in East Oxford has launched a new home- made food order and takeaway service to help people in need during the coronavirus pandemic.

People are now able to order healthy, hot meals and fresh pastries from Flo’s Café, which is in Flo’s – The Place in the Park in Florence Park.

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The new service, which will run four days a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 12pm-4pm, is one of the ways the former children’s centre which was reopened by the community in 2018 is supporting people through lockdown.

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The menu will change weekly, but example dishes are: butternut squash and savoy cabbage soup with bread, eggless shakshuka with feta, peas and rice, beef lasagne with green salad, and healthy barley and fennel salad.

Flo’s operations manager Helen Mets-Tooma said: “If you’re working from home, trying to home-school your children, fed up of cooking or just in need of something tasty to eat, we’re here to help.”

How it works:

  • Place your order by phone between 9.30am and 11,30am by ringing 07922 148496 .
  • When ordering you will be given a choice of collection times. Payment will be over the phone or online via the website Flosoxford.org.uk.
  • Collect your order between 12pm-4pm from Flo’s at your allocated time.

As well as Flo’s Café, the centre, located off Rymers Lane, is also home to a nature nursery, events space, refill shop and midwifery services.

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The Refill Shop. From left Helen Haines, Michelle Hunter and Makena Lohr in July, 2019.Picture: Ed Nix

The Refill Shop has also added an extra day and changed its opening times to meet demand.

The shop, which recently doubled its product list, is now open three days a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 12.30-6pm.

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Ms Mets-Tooma said: “We have increased our hygiene precautions and social distancing approach to make sure that our volunteers and customers are protected.”

Plans for building work at Flo’s Café were put on hold following the global pandemic but it is hoped the renovations will go ahead once it is safe to do so.

The café, which until recently had been run by local caterers Fresh Connections, was to undergo a makeover with the management to be taken in-house.

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Manager Helen Mets-Tooma with her friend’s son Sam Thomas aged 4, who uses the nursery, when the revamp was announced in March. Picture: Ed Nix

When the renovations are complete, new features at Flo’s Café, will include a much bigger terrace with sunshade sail over the kids’ area and a spacious buggy park.

Indoors, there will be a different seating layout, partial table service and a menu focusing on fresh, ethical and local ingredients.

Co-centre manager Makena Lohr said: “Flo’s café welcomes people from all walks of life and all ages to meet and enjoy good food. Some features, like the free-to-use community space for children, will remain, while others will get a makeover.

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Flo's - The Place in the Park on opening day in September, 2018. Picture: Richard Cave

“The new layout will have more smaller tables as well as a couple of larger ‘family’ tables. We hope the buggy store will be an improvement for both parents and customers, and will create more space and light indoors.”

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Food lovers have been invited to donate their favourite cookbooks and recommend a recipe.

The best ones will be added to the café menu, with a name-check, whilst the cookbooks will become part of a library.

There will also be a token-based ‘pay it forward’ system where people can buy a stranger a drink, snack or meal.