Brig O’ Turk Tearoom is located in the beautiful Trossachs, surrounded by mountains and lochs while being only an hours delivery van drive from Greencity’s  Glasgow HQ. A favourite of outdoors enthusiasts and day trippers, the tearoom is dog and muddy boot friendly, and the menu boasts a range of hearty homemade options as well as a good selection of cakes and enormous scones to help you refuel. We asked Kay, who has helped to run the tearoom for the past 4 years of its 100 year history, our Greencity Q&As.

1. How did your business come into being?

The Brig o’ Turk Tearoom is a quaint 1920’s wooden tearoom which celebrated its centenary in 2023. Whilst iconic in its own right, the tearoom also claims fame for being used as a set in the 1950’s remake of the film The 39 Steps.

However, this is only our 4th season in the tearoom and our ownership came about after an evening passing time, aimlessly scrolling through Rightmove just to see what potential projects were out there. Little did we know that this would result in buying a well-loved tearoom in dear need of a lot of TLC!

2. What’s the food scene like in your area and what sort of customer base do you have?

Situated in the heart of the Trossachs, our customers are a mix of outdoor enthusiasts, day trippers and tourists. Thus, we are dedicated to providing a range of hearty, homemade, tasty and wholesome vegetarian food, with a selection of vegan and gluten free options aimed at refuelling customers whatever their reasons for being in the area.

Our Neighbours at Achray Farm run a market garden supplying freshly grown vegetables free from pesticides, as well as selling their freshly made ice cream. Between the farm and us we are trying to put Brig o’ Turk on the map as great destination for delicious food made from great ingredients.

3. You put a lot of effort into your sourcing - what are your guiding principles and favourite products?

How we source and the products we choose are both shaped by our mission to provide wholesome and hearty vegetarian food and, where possible, also guided by our values of reducing the carbon footprint of our products and using as little single use plastic as possible. As a vegetarian tearoom we want to showcase our key ingredients (mostly vegetables) and how these can provide tasty food, thus we will only use an ‘alternative’ product if it is a stand alone product that can carry its own merit - for this reason Violife Greek White is one of our favourite products.

4. Why do you use Greencity Wholefoods as a wholesaler?

We use Greencity Wholefoods based on their values, as they don’t sell any products tested on animals and all their products are suitable for vegetarians. Thus, they are one of the only wholesalers where we can be 100% certain that any of their products will be suitable ingredients for our vegetarian menu. 

Additionally, the range of organic, dairy-free and gluten-free products on offer continues to inspire and increase the variety of what we can offer on our menu and evening meal events. I also know a lot of my customers are fans of Greencity and appreciate us using them.

5. If you could invite three people to a dinner party who would they be, and why?

The Hairy Bikers – they allowed me to believe that a passion for food and cooking can be more important than being professionally trained in the sector and this allowed me to follow my dreams.

My nana – it was spending time with her in the farm kitchen that first ignited my passion for baking and cooking.

Winnie the Pooh - as I too can sometimes be a bear of little brain but generally just walk about humming a little tune. We might just need to convince him that maple syrup is as tasty as honey!

6. What are your plans for the future?

We are in our 4th season of running the tearoom and some days it feels like we have been there forever while other days it still feels very new. Therefore, our current plan is to slowly continue with what we are doing, whilst increasing our menu and discussions about food with our customers. Additionally, we would like try and host more of our evening meal events as these are a great way to showcase different types of cuisine from around the world, highlighting how wholesome and tasty vegetarian and vegan food can be.

Thanks to Kay for answering our questions! Find out more about Brig O’ Turk Tearoom by visiting them in the Trossachs or online at www.brigoturktearoom.com