Da Moors ready for grand opening on Monday morning
A NEW café is set to open to the public on the site of the former Mackenzie’s Farm Shop in Cunningsburgh, offering hearty breakfasts and fresh lunches.
Da Moors Café will open for the first time at 7am on Monday morning, in a welcome move to give locals and tourists alike a chance to grab food and hot drinks while in the area.
The café is owned by Campbell Johnson, whose business CW Johnson Plant Ltd is taking over the Mackenzie’s building as a new head office.
However it will be his mother, Helena Johnson, who will be running Da Moors on a daily basis.
She told Shetland News that there has been a lot of demand for a café to return to the Cunningsburgh area after the closure of Mackenzie’s three years ago.
“Everybody was wanting to get the café up and running again,” she said.
“When Cope was in here recently, everyone was saying to them they were wanting it to see it be a café.
“There’s been some amount of cars who’ve been driving in when we’ve been doing this place up, and an amount of tourists coming in for a look.
“We’re seeing the demand for it already, so long may it continue.”
Helena said she had “always been in the catering side of things” throughout her life, and said Campbell had approached her last year about running a café from the building.
“I thought I would give it a go and get it up and running for him,” she told Shetland News from the new café on Friday morning.
When we visited, the finishing touches were being put to the café – which has 14 tables laid out spaciously and with a clock being mounted on the wall as we speak.
Helena said the plan for Da Moors was to “keep It very basic”, and to offer “just what everybody was wanting really”.
That will see hot cooked breakfasts and filled rolls offered from 7am onwards, Monday to Saturday, and with lunches served until 2.30pm.
These will focus on classics such as soup, toasties, paninis, baked tatties and quiche.
Helena said that while they have focused on what they knew would be popular at first, they are aiming to offer specials “once we get up and running”.
She said getting the café prepared for opening had taken a bit longer than they had hoped, but they are now “ready to go” on Monday morning.
A full-time staff member will join from college after June, while there will be plenty of hands available to help out in the coming weeks as folk flock to see what it is all about.
“We have a lot of part-time ones to help out, so we’ll have to see at what times we need them,” Helena said.
“We’ll need a lot of hands to begin with.”
An added bonus is the CW Johnson Plant offices being located next door, with Helena saying that some of the staff had offered to come through and lend a hand when it gets too busy.
Asked if she was nervous or excited about opening day on Monday, Helena said it was a “bit of both”.
“I think there’ll no be muckle sleep on Sunday,” she laughed.
Helena thanked all of the contractors, family and friends, and “everyone who’s helped get it all pulled together for wis”.
“Without them, we couldna have done this,” she added.
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