The kitchen that cares

Bruce and Rebecca Elsworth have created much more than a place to eat at Elsworth Kitchen in Skipton

- Emma Mayoh

When lockdown was announced, Rebecca and Bruce Elsworth were ready. The husband and wife, owners of the cool Skipton restaurant they opened a little over two years ago, knew they had to act.

‘We could see what was coming, even before the announcement was made,’ says Rebecca. ‘The restaurant was getting quieter. We decided to close before the official lockdown announcement. We needed a plan.’

Their foresight paid off and within a few days that plan was made. They launched Elsworth at Home, a food delivery service giving diners a taste of the restaurant. At the height of lockdown, they were cooking hundreds of meals each week to be distributed to diners within a five-mile radius and enlisted the help of family to do deliveries. Food boxes for Father’s Day – which contained 18 different delicious morsels from serrano ham to artisan chutney - were again ordered in their droves and chef Bruce, who was working solo while Rebecca looked after two-year-old daughter Florence, was changing the menus every week. Add to that cooking breakfasts, lunch and dinner for a local nursing home, they were busier than ever.

‘It was fight of flight,’ says Rebecca. ‘And the second wasn’t an option. We were just coming up to our second full year of being open, and we weren’t ready to give up.

‘Bruce has had a hard time. He had to adapt to take away meals that can be put in a container, the usual type of food he does isn’t your typical takeaway food. But we wanted to do some of our signature dishes and those really comforting meals, the ones that hit the spot for people when in such a challenging and unknown situation. Beef goulash, fish pie and beef bourguignon were put on the menus.