Operator profile: Pavilion

Owner and managing director Micah Judah tells Henry Norman about Pavilion, his newly-launched foodie paradise in Henley-on-Thames...

“In all my years of helping to launch new sites, I have always advised, ‘Don’t open just before Christmas’. And now I’ve just done exactly that.”

Micah Judah is explaining his incredibly impressive new Pavilion concept, which, as you may have already gathered, launched recently in Henley-on-Thames. As also alluded to, this is his maiden solo venture, though he has more than enough experience of working in an industry that is clearly his great passion.

“Food has always been a huge part of my life,” he says. “My earliest childhood memories all revolve around it. My dad was a sea captain and he used to travel all over the world, so we’ve always been quite adventurous from a food perspective.”

He left education with a post-graduate degree in management, finance and economics, but, as he says “food has always been an obsession”. And this obsession duly turned into a career.

Having trained at Le Cordon Bleu, Micah then moved into food retail in a number of roles, including running some of the largest food halls in the country and overseeing the rollout of over 200 new stores. He then worked in the supply chain before most recently moving into new product development. “It’s been wide-reaching but always in food retail,” says Micah. “I’ve been learning my craft and I really wanted to put into one place all the best bits that I’ve picked up over the years.”

Such was his determination that, when he found the right business idea, even the small matter of an international pandemic wasn’t enough to deter him. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he reasons. “It’s been 15 years in the making now and I just thought, ‘If not now, when?’

“I’ve been living in Henley for the last five years and I came across the most beautiful site. It’s a grade two listed building in the marketplace. With my background in opening sites, I saw it and thought, ‘I’ve always wanted open my own outlet and this feels like the perfect place to do it’. I really wanted to set up something different.”

The result is a fledgling business that is as varied, versatile and foodie-focused as Micah’s CV. The 1,800 sq ft site is jam-packed with everything you could expect from a modern delicatessen – and more. “We’ve got a beautiful deli counter where many of the products are made fresh in-house daily by my team of five chefs,” Micah enthuses. “We bake our own bread for the sandwiches; we make salads every day; pastries, sweet treats, all of that stuff is made on site. We’ve also got a beautiful 180-degree rotisserie oven, which is sat right near the front of the store so you can see all of our lovely meat going around.”

Despite the 20 covers (which will be expanded once the weather cheers up a bit), the retail side is a huge focus, as Micah explains: “We’ve got around a thousand SKUs [stock keeping units] that we sell in the store. They are curated from around the globe – from Spain, Italy, Asia, America, as well as local ones.

“We also do things like ‘fill your own’, for customers who are, quite rightly, worried about reducing packaging and plastics. We have grind your own coffee, with beans served over the counter and via retail. It really is a food experience, the sights, the smells.”

And these sights include the kitchen, which is the grade two listed part that dates back to the 1470s where the highly skilled chefs work away. “You can see the team cooking in there, the skill, the craft that is going into the food,” Micah says. “People often ask us when the product they can see the chef making is going to be on the counter, then they wait for it. For me, if you’re going to pull people into the high street, they have to have a reason to come.”

One of main big draws is, of course, the freshly prepared meals, which can be enjoyed on site or, in a classic post-pandemic pivot, taken away to enjoy at home. Dishes from the rôtisserie include porchetta made from Gloucester Old Spot pork slathered with herbs and citrus, or vegan options such as miso-roasted celeriac with a nutty salsa romesco.

An ever-changing range of salads, soups and sandwiches is available too. Sample dishes include a salad of saffron-braised butter beans with fermented Isle of Wight tomatoes and smoked coppa; a classic French onion soup with a sourdough Gruyère croûte; or a New Orleans-style muffuletta – a sunflower-seeded focaccia filled with local charcuterie, Moorland Monster cheese and Pavilion’s own spicy giardiniera.

Developing this uber-modern model has been one of the advantages of choosing to launch at a time when many would be thinking (at least) twice. “I’ve definitely got a few more grey hairs!” Micah concedes. “In all my years in food retail, this has definitely been the most challenging. Partly because setting up on my own was always going to be tough, but also because of the current climate.”

“But there’s also opportunity to be had,” he continues. “With people working more from home, they are really loving the finish-at-home restaurant-style food concept, so we’ve really jumped on that. A big part of our concept is restaurant-quality food, but not at restaurant prices.”

If this Swiss army knife of a store doesn’t already offer enough, when I ask Micah about his plans for the future, he reveals that he already has plans for its continued evolution. “I would always say first and foremost, ‘Get this site right’… however, we’ve got an e-commerce platform launching soon and the kitchen will double up as the cookery school.

“We want to get people really involved, from a young age and also really experienced foodies. They will not only learn from our great chefs, but from the artisans that we work with too.”

As I conclude our chat by asking Micah what his main piece of advice would be on setting a business like this, you won’t be surprised to hear that his focus is always on providing the best that he possibly can for the customer. “You should never compromise on quality,” he concludes. “The moment you start doing that, you have a problem.

“For me, if you can see, taste and smell tangible quality, and the customers understand that, if you explain it to them, they totally get it. It’s quality first and it always needs to be.

“Yes, it’s been a challenge, but we are at a point now where the industry and the market is changing, so now is the right time to be involved and help it to shape and evolve. In the deli space, the rewards are there if you get it right.”

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