A BELOVED plant-based café and restaurant in Oswestry has closed its doors after the owner made the decision to move into a different branch of catering.

Linda Clark has been the owner of Fat Rabbit in Bailey Street for seven years.

But she has recently decided that this is the best time for her to move on to event catering.

The 49-year-old explained that there are no financial reasons for the closure.

She said: “It’s a difficult one really – we were really busy in August so there are no financial reasons for closing.

“It’s more about staffing and me wanting to do more outside catering for weddings and other events.

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“I can’t do both [businesses] and I can’t staff both fully so that’s what kind of forced my decision.”

Linda is happy that in August she had one of the best months, if not the best month, since she opened, as she wants that to set the tone for her new adventure.

“There’s going to be a quiet couple of months so I thought this was the best time”, she continued. 

“It’s nice we finished successfully so that now I can take that forward with me.”

Linda owns another business called Forage Limited which she will focus entirely on corporate catering.

She has run the physical store and the catering services at once, but she explained it’s become quite hard to manage both with staff leaving for university and other places and with the growing demand.

“With the outside catering we’ve done film sets, TV, and all that side of things, and for me it’s really interesting because I can try different food and I can plan it all out”, she continued. “Then I can close for a week if I want to – and after seven years in hospitality I am tired of being committed to it six days a week without having time to do anything else.”

Linda also owns another property in Church Street, where she originally planned to move Fat Rabbit to, but due to Covid they couldn’t, so now it’s been rented out.

Fat Rabbit Limited will remain the name of the new catering business, which has already taken off as they already have events, weddings, and other commitments booked until 2025.

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She said she is excited for the new step in bringing more vegan/vegetarian friendly options to events in a sustainable way, but that she is sad to let go of all her former customers.

“I am going to massively miss my customers and I have worked with fantastic people over the years – it’s been great, and I feel sad to be closing something that has been very popular, but it’s a great spot for anyone looking to rent it next.”

The building is managed by Bowen, and Linda is urging anyone interested in renting a premises to go to them for enquiries.

For now you can keep updated with Fat Rabbit's next steps on their Instagram and Facebook pages.