Independent restaurant celebrates 20 successful years in Buckingham

An independent restaurant in Buckingham is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Friday, March 10.

Prego Italian restaurant opened in 2003 on Buckingham High Street, in a former butcher’s shop, with 20-year-old Chris Fox employed as head chef.

By the end of the first year, Chris had been made restaurant manager, and 20 years on he is now the owner, after buying the business in 2014. Chris met his wife, Laura, a primary school teacher, when she was a part-time waitress at Prego and they live in Buckingham with their three children.

In 2015/16, Chris gave the restaurant a makeover, introducing comfortable booth seating and a private dining room. In 2019, the kitchen underwent a major refit. In 2020, despite the impact of Covid, Chris extended the garden area and in 2021 he created the covered terrace area to cater for the increased demand for all-weather outdoor seating. In 2022 the garden makeover was completed with the refurbishment of the sundeck.

Prego has weathered the Covid pandemic and appears to be riding out the cost of living crisis. So what’s the secret of its success?

Chris said: “We look after our regular and local customers as much as we physically can, and we treat every customer as if they’re a super-special customer.

"I always say to the team, you’re only as good as your last meal. If someone’s been coming here for 10 years, it doesn’t matter – it they then come and have a bad meal, they’re going to go somewhere else next time they go out.

“It’s friendly, welcoming service delivered alongside consistent, quality food. My main thing when I hire front-of-house staff is they have a natural smile. As long they have a natural, welcoming smile, I can teach them to do everything else.

"But you need that welcome because that’s what we’re there to do really - we’re here to welcome people into the restaurant, make them feel relaxed and give them a good time.”

And Chris has cleverly ensured the loyalty of one group of customers with Prego’s excellent and extensive ‘Gluten Free’ menu, developed with long-serving chef Kamil, who is coeliac.

“I’m very proud of it," said Chris. “Traditionally, Italian food hasn’t been the friend of coeliacs, so us being able to offer gluten-free ciabatta, really good gluten-free pizza base and really good gluten-free Italian-made pasta, it’s a good string to our bow.

"Yesterday, we probably had about 10 or 11 tables that were with us because they had coeliacs on them who wanted to come out and enjoy Italian food alongside their friends.”

So what does the future hold for Prego?

“Hopefully that we’ll see an end in sight to these crazy energy prices,” said Chris.

"But for us going forward, we just want to carry on being the Prego that people know and love. We did a lot of expansion in the Covid times, we’ve got a much bigger outside area than we’ve ever had, and we still do delivery and take-away.

"And we’ll keep doing all of those things, and keep our menu nice and fresh but all the favourites will stay, and hope for another great 20 years – with maybe less interruption.”