A popular Leeds café, Country Crust, has been crowned best spot in the north of the UK for a sandwich.
The spot in Scott Hall Road opened seven years ago, but has grown in popularity, gaining five-star reviews, as well as loyal and new customers every week.
The sandwich shop is described by owners as an "excellent independent that strives to be better than the rest" - and it has proven to live up to its name. The coffee and food hub is the first ever café to be crowned as best northern sandwich shop for two years in a row.
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What's more, it was also crowned as Best Independent Café at the end of 2021. It is run by husband and wife Jason and Michelle Burns, as well as their daughter.
Jason has been in the food industry for over 25 years, while Michelle worked for a big marketing company before retiring. With their match-made-in-heaven expertise, they opened the shop and it has thrived ever since.
Michelle said: "We are over the moon with the award. We have won it two years in a row now - something no one has ever done.
"We all love it. We all love it. We also tell customers that our café, we see that as an extension of our home and when people come in the door they feel welcome, 99 per cent of our customers are great. Our customers have become our friends.
"We are so lucky. We have a really diverse range of customers so we get a nice mix of people coming through the doors - workers, residents, regulars, newbies.
"It was especially great to win the award on the back of the difficult times during the pandemic. It's also hard at the moment as the cost of everything is going up.
"It's hard not to be tempted to increase our prices. But we are very transparent with our customers and I think that's why it works.
"For example, we are the first independent business to put all the allergen information about our food on the website."
Michelle added: "We love what we do it’s seven days a week it’s a lot of work. We work hard and it pays off."
The cafe serves a range of sandwiches but also likes to introduce new fillings from time to time. Customers can pitch what they'd like for a "guest filling" every week.
The shop owners also offer catering for corporate events. Michelle said: "This isn't something we advertise as such, but if we know someone who is having an event we can help out."
We have guest fillings every week to spice things up. We did some catering not long ago for a film company. We do a little bit of corporate catering too.
