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The Real Food Cafe is in the Top 5 businesses running for the National Fish and Chip Awards 2023 ‘Field to Frier’ award. The National Fish and Chip Awards have been celebrating the best in the industry for over thirty years, and the Field to Frier category recognises businesses for their excellence in potato knowledge, care and chip preparation. The Real Food Cafe is thrilled with the recognition.  

The Real Food Cafe has been an official living wage employer since 2018 and we were one of the first Living Wage employers in Stirlingshire to become one.

This Living Wage Week, held this year from 14th to 20th November, Living Wage Employers from all over the UK joined their voices to speak up about the importance of paying a living wage. We were also highlighting our employee benefits and the things we do to help our team stay at the top of their game. And this is their summary. 

 

The National Fish and Chip Awards has today announced the top 10 finalists, for the Field to Frier 2023 category. And guess what, the Real Food Cafe has made the list! 

We're expanding our team here in Tyndrum, the roles available are a mixture of Seasonal and Permanent positions and we're currently recruiting for Team Members and a Shift Leader.

What is your name and where are you from?

My name is Vladislava Spasova and I am from Svishtov, Bulgaria (born and raised). I am living in Crianlarich, Scotland at the moment.

When did you join the team at The Real Food Café?

I started working for The Real Food Café on 10th of April 2017, then a year later I went home with my boyfriend to get married and have a nice honeymoon. I missed Scotland and The Real Food Café team, so I came back and re-joined in 2019, still super happy to be part of such a great team.

As custodians of our local landscape, our Café Manager, Colin McGeoch, was inspired to start a monthly litter picking, the first of which coincided with Zero Waste Scotland’s  Keep Scotland Beautiful Campaign (28th May – 20th June). 
 
On our first litter pick that took place on 30th May we were blown away by the support from off duty team members, locals, regulars and Flingers from the Highland Fling Race. A bunch of the Tyndrum 24 runners came to our second one and some West Highland Way racers will be joining our July pick. We are very grateful for the support shown from these organisations.

In addition to being assessed by VisitScotland as 'Good to Go’ under their Covid safety scheme, we are very pleased to be have been accepted as part of the the AA Covid Confident scheme.

In light of the announcements by the First Minister of Scotland on 7th & 8th October, effective from 6pm on Friday 9th until 9pm on Sunday 1st November , the café will fully be open from 07.30 to 18.00 and thereafter from 18.00 – 21.00 for Click & Collect and Take Away only using our on line ordering system.

Safety is vital…everyone’s talking the talk, but we are working hard to walk the walk!

Back in October 2019 we held our inaugural 'Gluten Free Fortnight' and it has been judged as worthy of a top slot in the category of 'Best Marketing Campaign' for these prestigious awards. 
 
We are delighted – obviously! Its great for the motivation of our team to be recognised in this way and that’s something which is double valuable during these testing times. The fact that all of the other finalists bar one are part of large, national or international multiples makes it feel like an achievement just to be there, although of course we want to win!

I want to start by thanking you, our customers and supporters, sincerely for your patience and messages of support through what has and will continue to be a stressful and very challenging time for the business.

The safety of our customers and team has been our number one priority. To this end, we are pleased to have been awarded the #GoodtoGo kite mark by VisitScotland for our risks assessments and Covid safe working practice guidelines.

We are gearing up to re-open on Thursday 23rd July when we will be introducing our new Click & Collect and contactless Take Away services.
 
Your safety and that of our team comes first and we have been working hard on having all the necessary hygiene and safety measures in place before we re-open.