The Meldrum Café opened on 25th April 2007.

During 2004, the Meldrum Bourtie and Daviot Community Council asked the whole community for suggestions on what they wanted for the area. 450 suggestions were received. In April 2005, everyone was invited to consider the options and choose their priorities. Nearly 200 turned out to vote. These priorities are now the basis of an Action Plan.

A café in the under-used Town Hall appeared to give many people what they wanted – a meeting place and an information point for all ages. Further research confirmed that this would be a popular development.

In order to obtain funding and all the necessary permissions, four volunteers formed the Making Meldrum Better Community Interest Company. These directors are unpaid, all assets acquired belong to the community and any profits must be distributed to the community.

The Company obtained funding from Aberdeenshire Council, the ‘Awards for All’ Lottery Fund and the Local Community Development Group.

Final permissions were granted on 26th February 2007 and what-was-the-old Library was rewired, plumbed, redecorated and fitted out as The Meldrum Café. This fitting out was paid for by £7,000 from Aberdeenshire planning gain and £10,000 ‘Awards for All’ Lottery funding. Other start up costs such as planning approvals, insurances, etc were paid for by the £2,000 from the Local Community Development Group. We were unable to receive start up funding and so directors personally funded some necessary expenditure as an interest free loan until grants became available.

Local volunteers now run the café and there are no paid staff. Around 50 people are needed to serve, cook, bake, clean and manage the café.

Volunteers are asked to provide two hours per week on a fairly regular basis. It is fun, a challenge and a good way to get to know people. Some volunteers have moved on to employment having gained confidence in the café. A small number of willing helpers have found it too difficult to fit in with work and family commitments but nevertheless the drop-out rate for the first year was very low.

We have undertaken one customer survey and aim to do this once or twice per year. We aim to provide good quality, simple, food at affordable prices. This includes fresh and toasted sandwiches, paninis, soup, salads and home bakes. Perhaps more importantly, we want to provide an environment where all ages can feel comfortable and pass time in friendly company.

We estimate that we had around 15,000 customers in our first year and trading profits were close to the level of our start up grants. All profits will be passed to the Making Meldrum Better Charity and distributed to the Oldmeldrum Community as grants or new community projects.