Dufftown chip shop back on open market following two year of dealings with Truerlein
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The owners of the chip shop in Dufftown have put it back on the open market after growing tired of waiting for a promised buy-out.
Dot and John McDonald say they will now listen to offers for the seven-bedroom property, which includes the DJ Chippie.
The move brings to an end their two years of dealings with Truerlein, the regeneration company which has been looking to find investors for several projects in Dufftown.
The couple say they were first approached by Truerlein in January 2020.
They add the regeneration company originally wanted to buy just DJ Chippie plus the Stuart Arms pub, which had recently closed.
However, Truerlein later expanded its plans to include buying an extra five businesses in Dufftown, to increase the number to seven.
The couple say the regeneration company then told them it had come to an agreement with its existing investors.
This agreement was that it must wait until it had attracted enough further investment to buy all seven businesses, rather than purchasing them individually.
John said: "Dot started to have doubts quite early on that Truerlein was trying to buy too many businesses at once.
"I wish I had listened to her more, but hindsight is a wonderful thing."
After closing for five weeks following the imposition of the first lockdown, the couple reopened DJ Chippie three days a week in May 2020.
And so things continued for a full 12 months.
Then, on May 15 last year, Dot and John closed the shop because they believed they were about to be paid after learning that Truerlein was employing an experienced fish fryer.
Still waiting for a sale to go through on August 16, the two parties then came to a 'right to occupy' agreement.
This allowed Truerlein to run the chip shop with its own staff and on the understanding it would pay the utility bills.
Renamed the Dufftown Fish and Chip Shop, it reopened during the third week of September.
The right to occupy agreement had an end date of October 1.
Instead, the two parties continued on an informal basis, with Truerlein leasing the building monthly.
But the business was to close yet again just weeks later, on November 25.
Three days earlier, on November 22, John states he had given Truerlein an ultimatum. Either a sale had to take place, or he would shut it.
However, no money was forthcoming.
John, who states the chip shop's frying equipment is still satisfactory, said: "We would like to say sorry to our friends and customers that the town no longer has a chip shop.
"We would love to open it again but our age, and Dot's health, mean that's not possible."
The couple took over the chip shop on November 28, 2003.
Previously, he had worked as an operations manager for Diego.
She, meanwhile, had been a coach driver.
One of their sons, Shaun, had been killed the year before in an off-shore accident.
Buying the business was their way of keeping busy in order to help cope with the grief.
John said: "Talking to the customers in Dufftown really helped to bring us back out of ourselves. Everyone was so supportive.
"And we were really busy. Especially during the whisky festival when the town was packed with tourists."
John originally tried to combine working for Diageo with rushing back to help Dot in the chip shop during the evenings.
However, after six months, John gave notice to the distillers and began working in Dufftown full-time.
The pair had doubled the shop's takings by the time they decided to put it up for sale in 2010 because they both wanted to retire.
However, the ongoing after-effects of the financial crisis, plus the size of the property, meant that they didn't find a buyer to match their asking price.
DJ Chippie is being marketed by the estate agents ASG Commercial HERE
