Fast – and healthy –food pays off for Glasgow restaurant

By Claire Smith
Published on 08/09/2012 14:21

ON THE corner of a street in the central business district of Glasgow, a quiet revolution is taking place.

Every day at lunchtime you will see a queue of office workers, maintenance men and fashionistas waiting outside a little basement fast food joint on St Vincent Street where they sell healthy, balanced vitamin- packed meals.

This is a city whose eating habits are famous across the world for all the wrong reasons, so it is all the more extraordinary that a new type of healthy fast food not only started here in Glasgow, but has become a runaway success.

Martha’s is the creation of former music venue manager Gavin Clark and his wife Kate. He says: “We are not banging the drum about extreme health – it is about balance. But we didn’t know if we could really get people to change their habits.

“The fact that we now get 400 people coming in during their lunch break is fantastic. We are just about to put in a fifth till.”

Martha’s, with its funky green interior designed by Glasgow designers Graven Images, may look like its a part of a chain, but it is a one off.

But not for long.

The couple behind the business are already considering opening up another outfit in Glasgow and have been eyeing premises in Edinburgh. Eventually they hope it may become a nationwide chain, with branches south of the Border as well.

Gavin and Kate Clark opened the doors of their alternative fast food joint 11 months ago after sinking in “a six-figure sum” of their own money.

The couple, who were both working in marketing in London, wanted to set up a business in Scotland and fancied doing something in food. After researching for two years, they decided healthy fast food was an idea waiting to happen. They were disappointed there wasn’t more practical help available from the Scottish Government but decided to go for it anyway.

Martha’s menu, designed with Fife-based nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, shows which meals are gluten or dairy-free, offers low-calorie options for people on a diet and shows which meals have more protein in them – meaning people can stay fuller for longer.

One of their innovations is a fruit smoothie which is whizzed at the counter after customers pick up a plastic cup containing lumps of fruit suspended in juice.

The bestsellers are Chipotle Chicken, served with smoked jalapeño dressing and avocado salsa, and Red Dragon Pork – slow-roast pork with sesame, chilli, ginger and spring onion and served either with brown rice or in a wrap.

The menu changes depending on what food is in season and features “seasonal hero” ingredients – aka superfoods – which are currently broccoli, rich in Vitamin C, salmon, a source of Omega 3, mint, which is good for digestion, and rhubarb, which is great for gut health and bones.

Dr Ruxton, who has worked on the project from the planning stages, said: “We always said you have to start with taste. You have to walk into Martha’s and see something delicious that you want to eat – and only then think about how it is good for you.

“It was also important for it to be trendy because Glasgow is a fashion-conscious city. But you have to feel you are eating well without missing out.”

Martha’s is not just about super healthy options but choice – and the takeaway also does a roaring trade in home-made cakes and in traditional black pudding and bacon rolls.

There is a rack of awards on the wall from suppliers and this is the only fast food place in Scotland with an award from Quality Meat Scotland. As a farmer’s son whose stepfather, John Young, was a former chairman of the Royal Highland Show, Gavin Clark was keen to use the best local produce available.

He said: “You hear all this stuff about farm to fork – but why does that just have to be about Michelin-starred restaurants? Scotland has the best produce in the world. We have amazing produce. Why can’t people make fast food out of what we have here.

“If you think about fast food you think about burgers, chips, fried chicken – it has all come to us from the States.”

If Martha’s expands nationwide the plan is to create local menus which reflect the food available in different areas – serving Cumberland sausages in Cumbria and pease pudding in Newcastle.

Kate Clark, who works alongside her husband in the business at the same time as looking after the couple’s baby, says the feeling of doing something worthwhile has helped the couple deal with 12-hour days and financial worry.

“There is no point doing something you don’t feel passionate about. There is definitely a problem with obesity in the UK and this is about giving people a choice. I think the recession has made people rethink some of their priorities and being healthy is a choice people can make for themselves.”

But she says the couple did not want to seem holier than thou.

“We were really worried about scaring people off and we didn’t want to give people too much information. But we do have customers who are very interested in nutrition and want to know more. If people are really interested there is a lot more information available on our website.”

For Gavin Clark, the biggest buzz is seeing the queues of people waiting outside the shop every lunch time.

“We have the biggest cross- section of customers you could imagine. We have councillors, actors, office workers, crazy hairdressers. We wanted the place to be fresh and appealing and to give people a little bit of a break in the middle of their working day.

“We are exhausted – but it is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.”

Top tips for starting your own business

ENTREPRENEURSHIP is on the rise. TV shows such as Dragons Den and The Apprentice have instilled a new confidence in the British public to go it alone and start up their own business. Here, the team at PeoplePerHour, the online marketplace for freelancers and business professionals, suggest the do’s and don’ts of starting up your own business from home.

1 Start Small

Keep your spending and overheads low, stick to what you really need – normally this is just a computer and a desk.

2 Start a website

You don’t have to spend thousands, but it’s worthwhile making sure you have an informative website with your contact details.

3 Keep a work-life balance

Working from home means it’s all to easy to continue working into the wee hours. Know when to switch off at the end of the day.

4 Keep an eye on accounts

Keeping track of your finances can be daunting and a little confusing. Too many businesses fail because of bad bookkeeping.

5 Social network

It’s worth considering building social network pages for your business such as Facebook and Twitter.

6 Don’t hire in haste As your business grows, you may want to find staff to help support you. Hiring additional staff can be costly. Try using freelancers instead.

7 Get fresh air

Try and set some time aside each day to take a break – even if it’s just a stroll around the garden or to the local corner shop.

8 Taxation

This can often be the tripwire at the end of the year that, if you are not careful, will see you land flat on your face. Make sure you are putting money aside from your income to pay the tax bill in April.

9 Create your own workspace

It’s important to separate your home life from your work life. Don’t work from your bed or on your sofa, work from an area designated as “the office”.

10 Have protection

Have protection! Working from home could negate the validity of your home insurance in the event of an accident.