y to climb

salads

But when KJ who says she was a chef but not a baker started experimenting with bread, it proved a huge hit Customers who were taking advantage of their home-run delivery service fell for her baked products in a big way and soon there were queues forming on her doorstep!

KJ says: I pretty soon realised there was actually a market for a bakery And a bakery was classified as an essential business during lockdown so we could continue to operate ”

They worked from home for six months and then, when things started to open up a little found a small industrial unit nearby

“It was quite a steep learning curve, ” says KJ “ We had been making some of our own products at the cafe bread and scones And I had been to San Francisco to learn how to make sourdough so I was interested in that, I just hadn’t had the opportunity to put it into practice

We started off doing mainly cakes but then began with doughnuts and sourdough and that s selling really well We’re doing a variety of breads and looking at doing our own croissants next Every day is a schoolday!

Now KJ s Bothy Bakery sells direct from a shop-front at the unit, which opened in the second half of 2021, and they also built up a thriving mail-order business, as well as the e-bike deliveries to local people

Customers take out bread subscriptions and get a delivery twice a week around the local community

KJ says: “It’s the best of both worlds because although at first I thought running a bakery would mainly involve making lots of sweet things, it s the bread that’s the best-seller, and we sell sandwiches

So I get to be a bit of a chef as well and create really nice sandwich fillings

The company has built up a strong social media following and word of mouth is helping to spread the word about their business someone recently made a 200-mile round trip to get lunch from them!

It s a big change from when the business had a high street presence as a cafe and employed 20 staff, but the pivot to bakery from cafe has proved a successful one, driven by necessity

KJ says: People have seen us on social media and we ’ ve been lucky to get a couple of really nice articles in newspapers, so people have read about us and come to visit and then the word of mouth thing has definitely helped And we ve had people coming in and saying they didn’t realise we were there, that we were still trading

It s interesting to think that but for the pandemic we might never have tried this, we would probably have carried on doing cafe-style food, even though I’ve always had an interest in this But our hand was forced and we had to make tough decisions And it s hopefully turning out for the best now

For the future, KJ aims to keep refining the business and building slowly, ramping up their online presence and focusing on building the delivery and mail order service

They have an online subscription service now, where people get a pack of bread through the post every month which is proving hugely popular KJ s Bothy Bakery might have been born from circumstances nobody would have wanted, but like the mountains that surround it, the business is hitting peaks KJ never dreamed of www.mountaincafe-aviemore.co.uk

T: 07919 443336 E: info@lowermilloftynet.co.uk www.lowermilloftynet.co.uk