National award for Keith café Boogie Woogie after 'coming out fighting' through pandemic
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A KEITH café has clinched a national award for "coming out fighting" by adapting its services to survive the pandemic.
Boogie Woogie, in Keith's Regent Square, has been awarded the title of Most Versatile Café & Takeaway Service in Scotland in the 2021 UK Enterprise Awards hosted by SME News digital business magazine.
The win came as a welcome surprise to owners Anne Holmes and Ryan Rodger, who didn't know their café had been nominated.
It is the second business accolade for the popular café and gift shop, which has got through lockdown by operating a takeaway service and putting its "Boogie Bus" on the road to run seven-days-a-week deliveries.
Boogie Woogie won Café of the Year for the north region in the Scottish Independent Retail Awards two years ago. The business was nominated for the same award last year but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
The couple have now made the most of their available space by erecting four stylish new pods for outdoor dining ahead of reopening on April 26, in line with the lifting of Scottish Government Covid-19 restrictions. These will become a permanent feature.
Anne has been at the helm of the business for nearly three years, employing 11 staff.
Ryan, who runs a joinery business and helps Anne in the café at weekends, said: "We were told last month that we had been nominated. We were asked to answer some questions for the judging panel and then won the award.
"We're quite proud and grateful that we were nominated then lucky enough to win it.
"We're always chuffed to be recognised."
Anne said: "We thought the award letter was spam email – but then we thought that before with the previous award win.
"We're not just about Boogie – it's a wee bit of community for folk.
"Someone has went out of their way to nominate us, which is really nice. So we must be doing something right and we'll just keep going.
"People have been appreciative of the fact that we're there and can deliver. Or if someone fancies something in particular, I'll say 'well, I'll put it on the menu some day next week'. Saves me trying to think what to make!
"But roll on the 26th and back to some sort of normality."
Booking is advisable for the pods, which are up and ready at the café's gable end to welcome diners once again.
