The WeeCOOK Kitchen cafe restaurant is closing its doors so the staff can focus on making their epic pies.
Restaurant owner Hayley Wilkes revealed that the eatery at Barry Downs Holiday Park near Carnoustie will shut at the end of October.
However, the WeeCOOK team and their award-winning pies will still show up at markets and private dining events, producing from their headquarters in Arbroath.
Hayley told The Courier: “It’s happy sad!
“It’s not doom and gloom though.
“We have been increasing our pie business more and more, attending markets not just locally, but all over Scotland.
“And we have reached the point where we can’t take on anymore.
“So in order to grow, we can’t have our fingers in all the pies – literally.
“We need to prioritise.
“And the team are really buzzing for it.”
WeeCOOK restaurant closing: ‘Let’s go and make our own future’
The closure of the cafe and restaurant will allow the WeeCOOK team to take advantage of the quieter winter period.
“When you look at the winter, you need to balance all of those things,” she adds.
“Do you want to make a loss through the winter or use that opportunity and try to grow the business?
“If you do nothing, nothing will change.”
While The WeeCOOK restaurant closing will be a blow to the Angus community, it is also the right step for the business, says Hayley.
“There are so many places closing down now,” she adds.
“People don’t eat out as much because they’re minding their pennies.
“And you see bricks and mortar businesses at the highest level going into administration or liquidation, and that breaks my heart.
“I don’t ever want to be in that position, and we’re lucky that we’re not.
“So do we want to wait and see? No, let’s go and make our own future, and that’s exactly what we are going to do.”
‘The best fish pie in Britain’
Hayley never imagined that The WeeCOOK Kitchen would get so big.
“I saw it as a little lifestyle cafe, as a hobby,” she says.
“I set it up initially as a private catering business in 2011.”
The restaurant has been at Barry Downs holiday park, near Carnoustie, for nearly six years.
The team have lots to be proud of over that time.
“I think we’ve always punched above our weight,” adds Hayley.
“In terms of what we have: an unlicensed little restaurant on a residential park in the middle of nowhere.
“And now we have accolades on a national level.”
The pies from The WeeCOOK Kitchen have been recognised around the UK.
Their Fishwife pie won the title of best fish pie in Britain for a third year running this year.
The restaurant’s sous chef, Ethan O’Hare, received the Rising Star award in The Courier Food and Drink Awards 2024.
“Yes, we are closing,” adds Hayley, “but we want people to come and enjoy themselves. We’ll fit people in as best we can.
“We will still be the same at the markets. It’s not the end of WeeCOOK!”
Pie lovers have until October 31 to visit The WeeCOOK Kitchen at Barry Downs, near Carnoustie.
Conversation