Business / Ex-Moorfield kitchen staff take business on the road to curb high electricity costs
TWO colleagues who worked together at the Moorfield Hotel before it burned down are set to hit the road with their food truck for the first time this weekend.
James Milne and Mark McNeill worked at the hotel in Brae back in 2020. Three years after the blaze, they’re launching their own business – 2 Guys.
Milne spoke to Shetland News ahead of their soft opening in Aith this Saturday.
“We’d always planned to go [into business] together,” he said.
“It started when we were at the Moorfield together, [Mark] was the head chef and I was there part-time.
“We did a function one time and realised how well we work together.”
The pair temporarily took on the kitchen at Da Grub Hut in the Voe softplay building earlier this year, serving up food like burgers, curries and pizzas.
But Milne explained that the goal was always to have their own truck.
“We thought we should get a van, go where we want and then Mark just went and bought it,” he said.
“It’s been a good little adventure, getting everything going… making our own menus, being your own boss, it’s been quite exciting.”
However, Shetland’s hospitality sector has struggled the last few years amid inflation affecting fuel and food costs.
He said one of the main challenges is that the industry is “a lot more expensive” now compared to their Moorfield days.
“I wouldn’t say it’s changed too much. Since Covid, hospitality trying to get staff has been pretty difficult… I can’t see that changing soon unfortunately.
“If folk realise that hospitality is actually an industry you can progress in, it’s not just a stopgap.”
Milne believes the mobile unit will provide certain advantages to the business that the premises in Voe did not.
“The overheads will be gone from if you were in a static place,” he explained.
“Electricity is a big one, so we’re moving to gas now. That’ll be a huge benefit for us.”
For the time being, the business will have limited operating hours as both partners have other full-time jobs.
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