Inverness café owner hopes venue has a future as she seeks to step down after 10 years at the helm

An Inverness café owner looking for new proprietors for a popular city centre venue said she hopes it will remain a welcoming place for people.

Gemma Taylor, who has been running Blend Tea and Coffee Merchants in Drummond Street for almost 10 years, has announced her plans to pass on the business.

She said: "We've had the place for 10 years this year, and it was originally two people – me and my partner – running it, however it has just been me for the past seven years or so. With everything that's happened, from Covid to the cost-of-living crisis, I am feeling very tired.

"Before the pandemic I had an assistant manager to help me, but now I have only a supervisor, so it's been me running it single-handedly, which was quite stressful.

"The staff I have are great, but even trying to take a couple of days off has become almost impossible.

"My daughter was four when we opened, and she is now 14! I really want to spend more time with her and not be here all the time."

It was 2013 when she leased the business, which is popular for its teas and coffees, homebakes as well as its vegetarian and vegan offering.

She said: "I used to work in bars so I wanted to get away from it and not serve alcohol to people any more, just doing something different, good quality teas and then we expanded to the food.

"When we opened, we called it Blend because we wanted to bring in a mix of people, from all different backgrounds. And I feel we have been welcomed by everyone, so it's great to have loyal people that feel comfortable here.

"Just the feedback from customers all throughout the years has been great, especially through Covid. People have been very supportive – buying vouchers and offering to help out.

"My former partner, who was here had a traumatic brain injury five years ago, and we had customers volunteering to come over and cover shifts then – it's built like a real community."

Blend has been on the market since January, however it was only recently that Ms Taylor decided to share the announcement more widely.

The café is up for lease with offers from £35,000 for the whole business, whose premises extend to around 98 square metres in total, however Ms Taylor said they are open to offers and will take into account if potential buyers would keep the café's current ethos and business model.

"We've had a few people interested in it," she said.

"One was a couple who were looking at doing something very different with it so we were not so keen on that, but we've got a couple more people expressing interest in the last week or so."

Ms Taylor said that despite the challenges, she still loves the café and the community formed around it.

"If I could take a step back and keep it going that would be great but I think I'd really like someone to be able to carry on the way I have been running it," she added.

"The staff we have working full-time have been here for several years now, so I'd love for the new owners to keep their roles. I am really proud of what we have done here, I'd love to find someone who feels the same way and carry on having this as a welcoming place for people."

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