Inverness duo revamp and rebrand cafe in a matter of months

Inverness’s newest cafe has had an incredible turnaround in less than four months.

Roots Cafe is the brainchild of River Elliott and Rebecca MacKintosh who were both former staff at Velocity Cafe on Crown Avenue.

When Velocity suddenly went into liquidation in November of last year, the pair decided that they would turn lemons into lemonade and open their own venture in the same premises.

They launched a Crowdfunder to turn Roots into a reality and within a matter of weeks they raised £12,000 and attracted further investors.

Now, having been opened for four weeks, the pair are happy to see former regulars of Velocity come into the space alongside new customers too.

Rebecca said: “We’ve had a lot of the regulars come back and it’s nice to see everyone.

“We have the same staff in the kitchen who were at Velocity before, two new front of house staff and a supervisor starting soon who had previously worked at Velocity for three years.”

The opening of Roots Cafe has been a real community effort and it is thanks to kindness and lots of determination that they were able to open within four months.

“Within 52 days we raised £12,000”, said River.

“We were able to start the work in January which was great. Donations kept coming in and we are so grateful for everyone’s advice and helping us to do work and turn it around so quickly.”

The duo have been able to put their own stamp on the place and it has been redecorated with a mural painted by a local artist.

They have also enlisted more local suppliers for their produce and the majority of products are made on site.

A kitchen expansion is planned for later this year and they will then have a micro-bakery in place.

Rebecca said: “It’s good be able to make that decision to get everything as local as we can. Most things are made here too and we get bread and pastries from the Bakery at the moment.

“In November, we will expand the kitchen and be able to make everything in-house and expand the seating area.”

River creates the menu which offers a wide variety of vegetarian dishes for all and they can cater to dietary needs.

The cafe is currently open six days a week (closed on Wednesday) but will soon be open seven days a week from 9am - 4pm (10am - 4pm Sunday).

They hope to be open certain evenings of the week in the near future and have event space for hire alongside catering facilities.

Rebecca added: “We just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us through our Crowdfunder and who have come in since we have opened.

“We want to welcome everyone in, so please come and enjoy some good food and drink.

“If you donated to the Crowdfunder and haven’t collected your gift yet, then please get in touch.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.