Meet the ambitious chef behind the coffee shop and bakery businesses growing fast across Northants
Meet the ambitious chef behind the coffee shop and bakery businesses growing fast across Northamptonshire.
Danny Webster is the founder of The Old Fire Station in Brackley, and two The Old Bakery sites in Brackley and Towcester.
His journey into the culinary industry began as a military chef for more than 13 years until he left in 2021, after setting up catering and events company Webster’s two years prior.
Webster’s is now the parent company of the three venues in South Northants, but it began as a wedding catering business and Danny secured enough events to be able to leave the military.
He unfortunately lost all his bookings during the pandemic but proceeded to leave his previous career. This is when he launched ‘dine to door’ and delivered afternoon teas and themed tapas dinners to people’s homes during an uncertain time.
“Every weekend I was delivering hundreds of meals to people’s doors and dine to door blew up,” Danny told the Chronicle & Echo. “It got my name out there and I’m grateful for that.”
When pandemic restrictions eased, Danny went back to catering for weddings as soon as he could and realised he needed an industrial kitchen to meet the demand for his services. This was three years ago when he took on The Old Fire Station premises.
The property came with a coffee shop attached and Danny made it his mission to make it a good one, which is when The Old Fire Station was born in Brackley’s High Street. This venue offers breakfast, brunch, lunch and table service.
Whereas, The Old Bakery sites are known to be grab and go with an option to eat in – and the first location launched seven months ago in Market Place, Brackley. Danny had already outgrown The Old Fire Station kitchen and knew he needed a second premises at this time.
The most recent Old Bakery opened at the end of September in Whittons Lane, Towcester and it was an opportunity Danny could not turn down.
“I’m going with the flow of life,” said Danny. “I’m a chef but love baking and the coffee shop world has better time frames than spending whole weekends at events. I’ve loved the journey it’s taken me on and I’ve gone with it.
“I had no expectations but I’m in an amazing position and have a great team around me. Towcester came up and I said let’s do it. It’s a great location and our busiest one yet.”
Danny praised Towcester and Brackley as two “rapidly growing” areas and he has added a unique offering that did not already exist – especially with his fresh sourdough bread.
As it took a couple of years to get The Old Fire Station in Brackley to its level of success, Danny was unsure of how The Old Bakery would initially be received in Towcester.
To his surprise, there was a queue out the door for the entire opening day and it has been the same on every Saturday since. Danny is taken aback that it is already busier than The Old Bakery in Brackley.
“I want to maintain a good, happy workforce who are on my page and want to grow the brand with me,” said Danny. “If an opportunity comes up, I’ll go for it – but I really want to enjoy the three we’ve got.
“Christmas is around the corner and it’s going to be a lot, but I enjoy it. As a chef, my mind is always going with ideas.”
Danny catered for his final wedding recently and will now focus on his three locations. He is still taken aback that people praise his door deliveries as a highlight of the pandemic.