It's all about local for this downtown restaurant

The Local Eatery was the perfect chance for owner Agnieszka Boekdrukker to try her hand at being an entrepreneur.

It was something she'd picked up from her father, who was also a local business owner and a go-getter that would not let obstacles get in his way.

Having spent most of her career in the corporate world, Boekdrukker was ready to move to greener pastures when she and her family moved to Glen Morris, just outside of Cambridge.

The city's downtown area was a sentimental reminder of her time spent in a small Spanish town, where her family moved to from Poland in the early 1990s. 

"It was a tiny town, but beautiful, and the people were amazing," said Boekdrukker. "Everybody knew each other and they helped us out a lot. They helped us with the language and would bring us food."

When she saw the same people-to-people connection in Cambridge's downtown, it struck her as the perfect opportunity. She took over the food establishment three months ago from the previous owners.

And, Boekdrukker said, she didn't even think twice even though it was the pandemic. 

"We have a great spot from a location perspective," she noted. "We have really good social media following at this point. We make food really well and we love doing it. My team is amazing. And they do that because they're appreciated and they love what they do and they're taken care of."

Mara Ioana, who recently moved to Cambridge, is now a loyal customer of the Local Eatery.

"This is the first place I came to," she said. "Everything is fresh and locally stored. They have good options because I have family members that are vegetarians and have other dietary restrictions. This place is great because you can always customize things for them. 

"The staff is extremely friendly," Ioana added. "They're so lovely every single time. Their menu is always changing because it keeps things fresh and new. I love their drink options because it's a lot of healthy options. This is my favourite place." 

Boekdrukker credited this sort of reaction to her team's ability to make it a welcoming space for customers and the fact that they pour their heart and soul into making food. 

"We do things locally and we do it right," she said. "We don't cut corners. We've sourced best local suppliers and we continue to do so. Everything is naturally made in-house. We bring in the ingredients and make everything in-house." 

Talking about the menu, said Boekdrukker, the basics of it were the creation of one of the previous owners, Nick Henley, but she's made some adjustments according to customer demand, feedback. and the changing seasons.

"We've increased our bread selection for our grilled sandwiches," she said. "We also brought in ice cream. We have introduced our cold brews and some other summer drinks, including milkshakes. We make our smoothies from natural ingredients." 

Satisfying customers is top priority for Boekdrukker and her team.

"I would hope that people would come in here and feel super comfortable and have an amazing time and leave feeling well taken care of," she said.

Even though it's only been three months since she took the reins, Boekdrukker added, she's always thinking ahead.

"I would say one of the things we're working on is to get licenced to be able to serve a beer or a glass of wine in the evening," she said. "I also would like to make sure we get our menu right for our customers and standardize it so we can open another location at some point."