New pet-friendly Worthing café offers delicious food at a reasonable price in a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere

East Toast Café is part of SAND, a Worthing-based community enterprise project, and the café gives trainees an opportunity to develop hospitality skills.

Carol Noble, lead facilitator for the supported pathway, has a core team of four, with additional trainees joining on different days.

She said: "Our mission is to provide a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere where we greet every customer who opens the door, including four-legged ones.

"Enjoy delicious, good-quality food and great customer service while we continue to develop hospitality skills to send our trainees forward into employment."

The team has worked together to develop the look of the café, at 38 Lyndhurst Road, and the menu is available Tuesday to Thursday, 9am to 2pm.

It is a simple three-step, mix-and-match menu, where you choose your bread, say how you want your sandwich and select your tasty topping. You can have your bread toasted and served open, not toasted, or toasted as a whole sandwich. Toppings and fillings are suitable for meat eaters and vegans.

Carol said they had trialed a variety of items and decided on a menu of toast-based snacks with prices to match different pockets. There are also cheese straws made on the premises, sausage rolls, quiche and cakes, as well as a range of hot and cold drinks.

I found it extremely friendly and welcoming and the Americano I was served was perfect.

The café officially opened on Tuesday, January 24, and Carol said the team members have started off with particular roles while they settle in but they will have an opportunity to try other jobs in time.

"The guys will have an opportunity to learn as they are going along," she added. "We need to make sure the ordering system works so the guys understand it. We have a focus on workskills with objectives for each day, so they are clear about the skills they are learning.

"They are learning skills that will transfer to the workplace so we need to make sure they are training on the proper equipment. We are developing lifeskills at the same time, for example ironing the aprons."

The Sand Project supports training up to the age of 25. The SAND Design team worked on the décor, making it bright and colourful to ensure it is a welcoming environment. Pictures on display were created by the SAND trainees and the designs are reflected in café team's aprons.