MUST-STOCKS The Bean Shop Café coffee Pea Green Boat cheese sablés Summer Harvest lemon & honey dressing Beeware heather honey Mr C’s Pies Godminster cheddars Chrystal’s shortbread Keith Brewery lager and Pale Keith Walter Gregor tonics Strathearn heather rose gin Allan’s Chilli Jam Co-owner Alison Niven with son and general manager Fergus, who joined the family business in 2009
over to a temporary Christmas gift shop. But the Nivens’ next project will see it taken back into the food area, not just to give ambient goods more breathing room but to house the shop’s first proper butchery counter. “Meat is about 12% of our turnover,” says Alison. “Our beef’s all grass-reared and wellhung, and we have a lot of loyal customers. But it’s all vac-packed at the moment and we feel there’s lot more potential in a butchery counter.” Fergus also has plans to increase the range of deli cutting meats – cooked hams, charcuterie and so on – as part of a general refresh of the fresh foods offer. This will also see extensions to an already strong range of 60-70 cheeses. While many farm shops are switching to more grab-and-go pre-packs, loose cheese accounts for 80% of sales here – probably reflecting a generally well-heeled and knowledgeable clientele. “It’s definitely the specialities people come for,” Fergus tells me. “Your ‘Stilton with cranberries’ – cheese that supermarkets are flooded with at Christmas – doesn’t go well.” One or two varieties come direct from makers like St Andrew’s Farmhouse Cheese in Fife, but prepacks come from Rowcliffe and Arran CONTINUED ON PAGE 57
The 140-cover café offers stunning views across the Perthshire countryside
Vol.18 Issue 10 | December 2017
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