From Aviemore's Mountain Cafe to a mounted cafe!
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Covid-19 has claimed the best independent café in the country – the Mountain Café has now left Aviemore and is hitting the road.
Owner Kirsten Gilmour will be basing her business at home in Grantown order to keep trading.
She told the Strathy: “The pandemic was a real kick in the teeth for us after 16 fabulous years.
“There is no way we can afford to keep up 18 staff on the high street and we are currently considering the best options.
“I can confirm my partner Al and I are working from Grantown and still making fantastic bread and cakes and delivering them by bike and trailer. We have had such amazing support. We’re also teaming up with Lynbreck Croft’s brilliant organic food clubs, so there’s plenty to keep us going.”
It was only months ago that the hugely popular Aviemore café was voted the best by the UK Enterprise Awards.
But the 42-year entrepreneur and author said: “As with so many other businesses, Covid-19 snuck up on us.
“As the crisis deepened it became clear that we
would be forced into taking the devastating decision not to reopen our Aviemore site, which we were forced
to close temporarily in March.
“But we are determined not to give up on our dreams and we’re engaging with the local community here, strengthening relationships with our incredible local suppliers and showcasing the great products available on our doorstep!”
Her bothy “pop-up” bakery has replaced the Grampian Road eatery with hopes of growing and taking shape “day by day”.
She said: “I am incredibly grateful to all those who have helped me reach for the stars and so sorry that this horrible situation has reared its ugly head and left me with no option but to scale down the team.
“But I’m so proud and thankful for everyone who has helped me to come this far.
“We are not defeated and this is not the end of the Mountain Café. We like to think of this next step as the café going mobile, working on a delivery and postal service as well as local collection.
“This means we can bring the unique flavours of a Kiwi in the Cairngorms to customers wherever they are: tent, caravan, holiday home or their own front door anywhere in the UK!
“Sadly we won’t be able to post French toast or an all-day brekkie but we hope to be able to offer this from a van in the future. We now do freshly-baked bread, cakes, slices and scones but we have much, much more planned and will keep everyone updated over the coming months.”
