Florin Stoian is a former restaurant supervisor and teacher at City College Norwich and now manager of the new café at Wymondham Leisure Centre. Here he describes the fantastic feedback so far
Bucharest-born Florin Stoian has more than 20 years’ experience in the catering industry, and he has spent the past 10 years teaching youngsters how to run restaurants and cafés at City College Norwich. He also ran a Junior Chef programme at weekends for 9- to 15-year-olds in the renowned Hotel School, inspiring them to become better cooks. His latest venture is as manager of Coffee with Flo, a brand-new café at South Norfolk Council’s Wymondham Leisure Centre And it is proving popular, with the coffee hailed by customers as ‘the best they’ve ever tasted’.
Coffee with Flo opened its door on April 1, selling a variety of light lunches, cakes, snacks and drinks. The food is fresh and locally sourced, and everything is cooked from scratch. There’s also lots of healthy choices and plenty of vegan options to choose from, as well as a children’s menu.
Florin says: ‘All our customers have been fantastic, giving us such great feedback, we have really been overwhelmed by their praise, particularly for our coffee and giant scones. We cater for the spa guests and for the people who hire the meeting rooms as well as all the gym goers, but you don’t have to be a leisure user to come to the café, it’s a great place to meet with friends and enjoy a slice of cake, coffee or light lunch.’
South Norfolk Council’s Cabinet Member for Customer Focus, Cllr Richard Elliott, says: ‘The café’s reputation is spreading fast. Flo’s fresh approach and delicious food is bringing lots of new people to the Leisure Centre.’
Florin plans to create more comfortable seating in the café and will soon be offering afternoon teas. And on June 24 he will be at the Wymondham Food Festival offering a selection of Mexican street food.
Visit @coffee.with.flo on Instagram and southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk
Florin … the best