International Women’s Day - Food, Drink & Hospitality part two…

The theme for International Women’s Day 2022 is #Breakthebias, here we have the second instalment where we meet some of the women breaking the bias in the male-dominated food, drink and hospitality scene here in Scotland.

Helen Chalmers, The Dipping LuggEr & Highland Liquor Company

Helen Chalmers is co-founder of The Dipping Lugger, a unique fine dining restaurant and rooms, and Highland Liquor Company, a craft gin distillery, both located in Ullapool on Scotland’s West Highland coast.

Coming from a farming family, Helen studied agriculture at Aberdeen University. Working at Perth Show each summer growing up, she began her career as an event planner and after working on the popular music festival, The Wickerman Festival she went on to take on the role of festival coordinator for seven years before becoming self-employed at the end of 2014.

Co-founding Highland Liquor Company with her partner Robert, Seven Crofts gin was born from the couple’s passion for food and drink. Helen, like Robert, is involved in all aspects of the business from the packaging design, which has gone on to win several high-profile design awards, to marketing, accounts, the bottle shop and of course sampling.  

The Dipping Lugger opened in the summer of 2021, a former parish manse which has been extensively renovated to create a luxury retreat and restaurant by the couple and interior designer Eve Cullen-Cornes. Head Chef David Smith, formerly of Boath House, is showcasing the fantastic produce the Highlands are famous for, including Ullapool’s incredible seafood. The 18-cover restaurant also features ‘The Tasting Room’; an intimate two table dining room that doubles as a gin sampling room, where guests can enjoy a dram of Seven Crofts gin, from the distillery.

Amy Elles, chef patron at The Harbour Café

Amy Elles is chef patron of The Harbour Café, a Scottish seaside shack in the picturesque East Neuk village of Elie, serving up some of the very best locally caught seafood. Fans of cooking programmes may also recognise her from the BBC TV series “Great British Menu” where she represented Scotland in 2019 and 2020.

Amy is a classically trained chef having studied at London’s culinary centre for excellence, Westminster Kingsway College, whose alumni also include Jamie Oliver and Anthony Worral Thompson. Her on the job training was as a chef at Harrods and first professional position was at The Grove hotel in Hertfordshire before taking up a pastry chef role at Heston Blumenthal’s Three Michelin starred Fat Duck. Since then, she has worked at Spanish Michelin starred restaurant, Casa Marcelo in Santiago de Compostela, at London’s Moro restaurant and as a private chef travelling the world for four years.

Hilary Sinclair and Chloe Black, Edinburgh Butter Company

Originally from Berwick, Hilary and Chloe grew up in Edinburgh and both trained at Ireland’s famous Ballymaloe Cook School. On her return to Scotland Hilary, and her husband Nick started the Stockbridge Social Club.  They ran this small but successful supper club from their flat, but it was a trip to Australia in 2017 that first spawned their interest in butter.  Having experienced the range of artisan butters available there, Nick and Hilary spent the flight home deciding to experiment with butter making.

They spent the next nine months trying out different techniques and using their supper club guests as guinea pigs, before focusing on the Edinburgh Butter Company full time. The company was first based at Chloe’s, Edinburgh flat before moving to a professional unit on the city’s west side. Hilary remains production director of the company, working alongside Chloe who had worked as a food trends analyst in London.  Chloe is also on the board of the Federation of Chefs in Scotland.

Gayle Mcneill, Board Member of Bute Kitchen

Bute Kitchen is a collaboration of multi award winning food and drink producers, suppliers and hospitality providers that aim to showcase the talent, passion and quality that exists on the island. And the enterprise is bucking traditional gender stereotypes as over 70% of their producers are female and the board of trustees is completely made up of women. From farmers to smallholders growing and producing crops, dairy and livestock, to cheesemakers and butchers crafting products, Bute Kitchen has it all and more. McNeill says, ‘There is a perceived lack of diversity on the Isle of Bute, and a lot of our producers work in very traditional, male-dominated industries. With Bute Kitchen we have created a wonderfully inclusive environment that celebrates world class female led businesses, including the gold award winning Bute Shores Artisan Baking, the Isle of Bute Gin Distillery, Braw Liquor Company, Isle of Bute Coffee and the Isle of Bute Smoke House, formerly Ritchies of Rothesay which was established in 1888 - we have a lot of history and are experts in our respective fields.’

Rhona Madigan-Wheatley, Isle of Bute Gin

The quaint Scottish island of Bute provides the inspiration for this small batch gin. Crafted with care in the heart of Rothesay using a traditional copper still, this is a herbaceous and fruity gin that lends itself to life on the Scottish isles. As part of the Bute Kitchen Madigan-Wheatley says, ‘We are extremely proud to be a strong predominantly female group of food and drink producers, who are proactively changing the preconception of Island living and challenging those male dominated sectors by paving the way for future generations of female entrepreneurs on the island.’