Christmas market favourite Panc is opening a new street food stall in the heart of Manchester, taking over the former Salt and Pepper unit at the Arndale Market.
Having impressed vegans and non-vegans alike with their naturally-coloured buns, plant-based burgers and bratwursts at last year’s Christmas markets, chefs Ariane Cardoso and Hannah Jobe are now gearing up to open a new space in the city centre.
Here, Panc fans will be able to find all their savoury favourites as well as a range of sweet desserts under the new banner Yum Yum.
Splitting the stall into two, Panc and Yum Yum will each be housed in their own individual sections – one serving up tasty vegan ‘junk’ food like kebabs, burgers, loaded fries, hot dogs and ‘chick’n’, the other focusing exclusively on milkshakes and desserts.
Yum Yum will boast a brand new vegan soft serve machine, bringing plant-based ice cream to the Arndale market for the very first time alongside Panc’s popular churros, loaded PANCakes and Belgian waffles.
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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Panc already offers a ‘Sweet Tingz’ section on its dark kitchen Deliveroo menu, but now they’ll be bringing the sweet-tooth offering to life in a new way with its very own stall – as well as maintaining their busy dark kitchen operation alongside.
Open at the market until 6pm throughout the week, they’ll then carry on cooking into the evening from their kitchen in Ardwick – with full menus available to either collect or order for delivery at both sites.
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It’s an exciting new development for Ariane and Hannah, who first started cooking during lockdown over in Gatley before they got an opportunity to be in the Christmas markets
Since closing their Piccadilly Gardens stall at the start of January, the pair have been serving customers from Salford to Fallowfield from their base at Ghost Kitchens in Ardwick.
Image: The Manc Eats
Speaking on the journey of their business up to this point, Hannah told The Manc: “We got an opportunity to be in the Christmas markets, and we were like ‘oh we really want to be in the city centre'”,
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“Ariane sent me a message in the lockdown and just said are you working, I said no I’m on furlough, alright let’s open a business and we did!”
Before that, both had worked in hospitality for some time. Hannah was a Business Development Manager selling coffee, whilst Ariane – a vegan cook for many years – was managing Brazilian steakhouse Bem Brasil, having opened sites in Northern Quarter, Deansgate and Liverpool for the group.
Panc proved a huge hit with both vegans and meat-eaters alike at the 2021 Manchester Christmas Markets. / Image: Panc Foods
Despite their success at the Manchester Christmas Markets, both said that they felt they had to start from scratch when they arrived in Ardwick – adding that Deliveroo helped them to do a lot of marketing to introduce themselves to their new customer base.
Now they’re taking another step forward – bringing the tried-and-tested dessert arm of their dark kitchen business out into the world under a brand new name.
Tipped to open in the Arndale Market any day now. keep an eye on Panc’s socials for more updates ahead of their launch.
Feature image – PancFoods / The Manc Eats
News
‘Christmas chaos’ on the cards as Manchester tram drivers vote on staging strike action next month
Emily Sergeant
There could be major disruption to festive travel in Greater Manchester next month, as hundreds of tram drivers are currently voting on whether to strike.
Almost 320 tram drivers are being balloted over working conditions and fears around fatigue.
The drivers – who are members of the union, Unite – all work for KeolisAmey Metrolink Limited at the Warwick Road South and Queens Road depots in Manchester – and they operate trams on all routes in Greater Manchester.
As it stands, the drivers’ shift patterns currently mean they have to work 450 hours over a 12-week period, which results in some having to work 50 hours on, followed by just two days off, then back into another 50-hour work pattern.
Drivers also have fewer rest days compared to all other operational departments, and this is said to be causing safety concerns around fatigue.
‘Christmas chaos’ is on the cards as Manchester tram drivers are currently voting on staging strike action next month / Credit: TfGM
Drivers say they concerned about operating heavy vehicles while exhausted and unable to have proper breaks, but after raising the issue with management, Unite has been told there is ‘no funding available’ to support any ‘meaningful’ improvements to working patterns.
Instead, management has asked drivers to start work earlier – which Unite says is only ‘adding insult to injury’.
The ballot is set to close on 11 November, and if drivers vote in favour of industrial action, strikes could then begin in late November, causing widespread cancellations and delays throughout the region during the busy festive shopping period – particularly coinciding with Manchester’s world-famous Christmas Markets, known for attracting millions of visitors to the city each year.
“Any strike action will cause a great deal of disruption but it is entirely the fault of Metrolink, which is not taking the issue of driver fatigue seriously,” commented Unite Regional Officer, Colin Hayden.
“It is dangerous for fatigued workers to be driving trams and they should not be put in this situation.
“We are demanding that Metrolink and Transport for Greater Manchester work with Unite to find a solution to this problem to avoid industrial action.”
Featured Image – Janus Boye
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A local Manc content creator is looking to set a world record by running around Old Trafford
Danny Jones
A local content creator, who specialises in running/hiking content (and sandwiches), is looking to raise money and potentially set a world record by jogging around Old Trafford.
Oh, and by jogging, we mean running – for a really, REALLY long time…
If you’ve never come across his channel before, let us introduce you to local influencer and videographer Sam Matthew, a.k.a. ‘Peaks and Pubs‘.
Boasting plenty of fans on both Instagram and TikTok within the world of trail running, the outdoors community and beyond, he’s set to toastreaching a very specific achievement by “turning a milestone into a mission” and doing laps around Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United Football Club.
As explained in the video, he’s now surpassed 74,310 followers, i.e. the same capacity of supporters you can fit inside the Theatre of Dreams itself.
We know, it’s distance running and feats of endurance aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they are a great way of raising money and awareness, not to mention possibly getting yourself in the official Guinness Book of World Records.
Explaining the challenge in the caption of the video, Sam writes: “There’s now enough of you lot following this daft account of mine on here to fill a stadium I’ve adored since I was a little boy. And that genuinely means so much to me.
“So why not celebrate the occasion by punishing my legs and raising money for good causes along the way? Donations are, of course, the aim, but I understand that not everybody is in the position to do that, so any engagement on this post is hugely appreciated.
“I mean it from the bottom of my heart that you lot genuinely make this all happen for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful that I get to do silly stuff like this on a random Wednesday [29 October]. Giving off pure ‘your unemployed friend on a Wednesday’ vibes, but I love it!”
Raising money for the club’s in-house Manchester United Foundation, which has already shown its support for the upcoming ultra-marathon distance event, they are also looking to generate crucial funds with the return of another annual charity event too.
The Foundation does some incredible work all year-round, if you’d rather swap running around Old Trafford for sleeping.
Once again, Sam will be kicking off the serious step-count from approximately 9am this Wednesday (28 Oct), he’s estimating it’ll take him around a whopping nine and a half hours, “with plenty of breaks for food and fluids”, thank god.
As the man behind most of the Bada Bing videos, we expect plenty of butties to fuel the running.
Furthermore, although he’s set to take on the distance solo for the morning, he’s invited as many people who fancy getting involved to come and join him for a lap or two from 12 noon onwards; hopefully, he’ll see the Guinness people popping along to see if he registers a world record while he’s at it, too.
We hope there are a few pints at the pub waiting for you at the end, as always, Sam.
Georgina Pellant -
27th June 2022 
