Celebrity MasterChef winner and former England rugby captain Phil Vickery is launching No.3, a new food for collection service in Cheltenham, after postponing his plans to open a restaurant.
With an emphasis on British produce, the service will provide ready-to-eat dishes to order and collect, include parmesan crusted chicken breasts with tomato and basil sauce, luxury fish pie, and spiced roast duck legs with cannellini bean casserole, so people in Gloucestershire can still enjoy restaurant quality food within social distancing guidelines.
Phil and his team, which includes former head chef at The Daffodil in Cheltenham Tom Rains and Elliott Camm, who has been the front of house manager for both The Daffodil and Ellenborough Park, had planned to open a restaurant in Cheltenham in May 2020, but transformed the business model in response to the Coronavirus crisis.
Speaking about the launch, Phil said: ‘Cheltenham and the wider area has a fantastic food scene and it’s one I’ve been looking to get into for some time… last year, the stars were aligning and I was presented with the opportunity to form a series of perfect partnerships, including a brilliant team and suppliers, as well as getting the right landlord on board. Then, out of nowhere, COVID-19 and the subsequent crisis appeared, seemingly scuppering our plans.
‘Not wanting to set all the hard preparation work aside, I was determined to continue. So, putting fresh plans in place and implementing them over the past few weeks, we’re now in a position to launch No.3 as a collection service; providing people with access to high quality food at no risk to themselves.
‘Despite the current pandemic, ultimately, it hasn’t changed anything. I’m still going to be doing what I intended. The food that I love and would stand by and champion is going to be eaten in homes rather than in a restaurant. We’re providing restaurant standard food for people at home. It’s early days for No.3, but flavour and taste will sell our offering – and we’re looking forward to what the next few weeks and months hold for us as people come to appreciate it.’
To place an order, call No.3 on 07753 498985 between 9am and 12pm. Orders must be placed 24 hours in advance and collected from Brickhampton Court Golf Complex in Churchdown, near Cheltenham.
