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Borders Business Making the Most of Scotlands Food and Drink

A Borders company is making the most of Scotland???s great food and drink by targeting overseas visitors for its cook school business.

Date : 23/06/2014

Realising that foreign visitors might want to do more than just eat the best of Scotland’s larder, Michael Muir of thecookschool.com, based near Broughton in the Scottish Borders, is setting his sights across the globe to target new visitor markets and attract them as customers to his cookery school.

To help realise his expansion plan, Michael is working with Business Gateway Scottish Borders.

Michael said: “I approached Business Gateway when I decided to expand the business and my business adviser Wilma and her colleague Chris, a specialist food and drink adviser, both spent some time helping me formulate a plan to take the business forward and identify target markets abroad.”

With a background of working in some of the finest hotels in the country, including Gleneagles and The Balmoral Hotel, Michael established his catering company Cooks and Co twenty years ago, before adding the cookery school to the business in 2008.

Rachael McQuaid, who was a pastry chef at a two-Michelin star London restaurant, works alongside Michael in offering cookery courses which cover a wide selection of culinary themes.

Michael added: “When setting up the cookery school we didn’t want it to feel formal like a home economics classroom, but somewhere where people would feel comfortable. “We based it on a Tuscan or French Provencal kitchen where we all work around a big island.”

Plans for expansion include targeting ‘food tourists’ in Spain and Italy who are looking for a real Scottish foodie experience. Providing luxury accommodation on their farm base, including a spa experience and in-house restaurant are also part of the longer term strategy.

“We go to Tuscany for Italian cookery schools and I think it would work the other way around,” said Michael. “Here, we have so much to offer – from beautiful scenery to great produce and, of course, our unique history."

Michael plans to target overseas visitors before they come to Scotland, which he’s working on at the moment, and he looks forward to developing his business plans with support from Business Gateway Borders.

Read more about Michael’s plans in the original article from Business Gateway here.

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