Chester’s first grilled cheese café opens

A local entrepreneur is bringing a new culinary concept to Chester, thanks to a start-up loan from Business Finance Solutions.

Laura Lautrete has opened Meltdown, a grilled cheese café, in Handbridge, Chester. The café serves grilled cheese sandwiches, side dishes, craft beers and soft drinks and will cater to the nearby university and college market, as well as local office workers.

Meltdown’s owner Laura has worked in the restaurant industry for over 30 years, having started as a waitress in her parent’s restaurant. She went on to manage many high-profile restaurants in London, moving back to Chester three years ago to run the award winning Urbano32 specialist pizza restaurant.

Laura has used her loan for the building work required to get the café up and running and for kitchen fittings and appliances. Future plans also include launching a breakfast menu and developing themed cheese related events such as cheese and craft beer and raclette nights.

Laura said: “Grilled cheese cafes and pop ups are opening all over the US and in London and I’m so pleased to have been able to use my Start Up Loan and the support of BFS to bring the concept to Chester.

“Grilled cheese has to be the ultimate comfort food, it’s a dish that can be as simple or as gourmet as you like, and we’ll be offering a range of great British and European cheeses within our menu.

“Starting a business is incredibly exciting but there are also many challenges, not least being able to find the finance we needed, so being able to call on the BFS team’s funding, advice and support has made a big difference to our start up journey.”

BFS is the North West delivery partner of the government’s national £310m Start Up Loans programme and a lending partner of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. BFS will see £15 million allocated to new start-ups across the North West over a two-year period, creating around 3000 new businesses and over 5000 new jobs in the region

BFS loan manager Alex Mearns said: “Laura has spent three decades working and honing her skills in the restaurant industry and with the launch of Meltdown she is finally able to bring all her expertise and experience into what will be a great addition to Chester’s café culture.

“We are really pleased to have been able to provide the funding she needs to make her dream of owning her own restaurant a reality.”