Following on from the success of her “mini Mothercare” store and online shop The Mango Tree, which has been based in Dundee since 2019, owner Lia Khan has branched her business into hospitality.
The Mango Tree cafe has opened in Gray Street, right next door to the children’s shop, which supplies arts, crafts, toys, accessories and clothing for young children, toddlers and babies.
Opening quietly for a soft launch at the beginning of October, Lia is hoping to have the children-focused cafe officially ready to open within the next couple of weeks.
She says: “We’ve been open for about three weeks now, with a soft opening of the cafe just to get people’s feedback.
“There isn’t a date for the cafe’s official opening yet but it’s hopefully going to be in the next couple of weeks.
“Essentially, The Mango Tree shop next door is like a mini Mothercare. We were based in Dundee to start with, on Perth Road, where we opened in 2019.
“But because of Covid we kept opening and closing and then opening and closing, and then during the last lockdown, which we didn’t know was going to be four months, we just decided to get rid of the one on Perth Road.
“We opened the Broughty Ferry shop last August and decided to keep that one going.
“We also have a huge warehouse at the Old Mill in Dundee because online is our main sales outlet so that’s what the warehouse is for.”
Everything you need
As the opportunity arose to open a cafe next door to the Gray Street premises, Lia liked the idea of having a place that’s family-friendly with everything needed for lunch with young children.
She adds: “It’s a family-friendly cafe with a children’s play area and children’s food but we’ve had a mix of people in, not just people with children.
“The landlord came to us a while ago and said the premises next door to the shop has a food and drink licence and asked if we wanted it. We had a think about it and we thought ‘yeah sure, why not?’.
“The two are connected by one internal door so people can have a browse or buy something in the shop then head through to the cafe for lunch. Some people have used the door thinking it’s the toilets but have ended up in the shop!
“You can come in and there’s everything you need here – high chairs, drinking cups, sippy cups, everything you need to have lunch with young children.
“Both the shop and the cafe are open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10am until 5.30pm and by keeping them both to the same times we’re trying to make them as environmentally friendly as possible.”
On the menu
While working on the menu for the official launch, Lia is still getting feedback on the kind of dishes customers want to see.
“Soup and sandwiches seem to be the most popular request so we’ve put them together on the menu now as we did do them separately,” she says.
“It’s hard to explain but we are sort of healthy food with smoothies, as well as having cakes and coffees and a children’s platter. The platter is cut up fruit and vegetables, with a hummus dip, as well as a sandwich.
“It’s nothing like Jaffa Cakes or things like that which I think we all do for our own kids sometimes. It’s healthy options with paninis and falafel wraps, with some traditional cafe baked goods.”
Run by mums
The majority of the cafe’s staff are mums of young children, who Lia says need a bit of recognition after deciding that all the staff tips should go towards donating gifts to Cash For Kids, as well as organising family-friendly events in the space.
“The girls that work in the cafe are so lovely and are mostly mums,” says Lia. “People have started giving them tips and the staff were wondering what to do with them and none of us could decide. So all the tips are getting used to buy gifts for the charity Cash For Kids.
“On Sundays we’ll be doing classes for the kids. Technically the cafe is closed on a Sunday but people will be coming in and doing classes like Father and Daughter Hair Days, as we’re also trying to think of more classes that dads can do.
“There will be cupcake decorating and sensory classes for babies and toddlers on Sundays too, as well as arts and crafts, the list goes on and on. Everyone’s got all these ideas and we’re hoping to do them all.
“Once we’ve finished with the soft opening, got the menu completed and have officially launched the cafe, we will have a website updated to include the menu and a list of the classes and a place where they can book.”
The Mango Tree’s Facebook page can be found at facebook.com/TheMangoTreeBF while the website, which will soon have the cafe menu and bookable events list, is themangotree.co.uk.