Safeway is trialling a scaled down Cafe Fresco instore restaurant at Welling Garden City in Hertfordshire. The new compact version, which opened in December, is a move away from the ambitious high volume foodie restaurant which launched last April While the pilot sites at High Wycombe and Woking can seat almost 100 customers inside and 70 outside, capacity at Welwyn Garden City is closer to 80. It has a cafe bar area at the front, with tables for 20 people at the back. Like the original Cafe Fresco, it is licensed, but it specialises in snacks and coffee, rather than three course meals, trading in line with store opening hours. Safeway property and finance director Simon Laffin said: "We are evaluating the performance of Cafe Fresco in Woking and High Wycombe against a new smaller footprint at Welwyn Garden City, with a more compact design and with the focus on coffee." He added Safeway would roll out the agreed format to refurbished stores following evaluation. The supermarket initially planned to roll out the original Cafe Fresco to 40 stores by the end of 2002, but has not added to the portfolio since the two trial stores were launched. {{NEWS }}

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