Highland Street Food Pop-Up unit to open in new food hall at Victorian Market in Inverness
A new street food pop-up unit is to open in the new food hall at the Victorian Market in Inverness.
The Highland Street Food Pop-Up unit will offer a changing selection from established street food vendors, new businesses, students, and guest chefs from around the Highlands.
The aim is to expand on the success of the Highland Food And Drink Trail (HFDT) street food zone alongside the city's cathedral and River Ness, offering vendors an alternative indoor city centre location with seating, and a complementary range of local food and drink.
It will also give new businesses a chance to show off their products to a city centre audience, get their brand known, and make some income to invest in their businesses.
Local chefs are also interested in getting a chance to show off what their businesses can offer and help create interest and drive footfall to their establishments.
The unit will open this weekend from noon - 7pm with HFDT street food stars, Ollies Pops, while the following week will see Redshank offer seafood.
They will be open alongside Moonshine, which sells craft beers, wines and cocktails, vegan street food specialists Salt and Fire, Bad Girl Bakery and Good Girl Greengrocers.
The unit is a collaboration between HFDT, Inverness Common Good Fund and MacGregor Industrial Supplies which equipped the unit as part of its commitment to supporting new businesses.
Pictures: Street food-related goodies given away at food and drink trail
Highland Council's Inverness city area manager, David Haas, said the council was delighted that the HFDT had invested in giving opportunities to high-quality specialist food businesses to trade from a fixed premises.
"This will also add a fantastic new dimension to the new Victorian Market food hall in offering the highest quality food in a wonderful environment," he said.
HFDT director Douglas Hardie said: "I’m really delighted that, along with the street food zone in Inverness, there is now a development pathway for exciting new and small businesses to take advantage of, which will hopefully contribute to a new food and drink culture that’s unique to Inverness and the Highlands."
Alison Buchan, divisional hygiene and catering manager at MacGregor Industrial Supplies, said: "The renovation of the food hall is an exciting project that brings to life a beautiful historic building in the heart of Inverness aligned with its original purpose.
"We look forward to continuing to support the local businesses within the Victorian Market.
"We also look forward to seeing the new businesses that will go on and prosper using the pop-up kitchen as a starting point towards their future success."
