McBain's restaurant in Inverness has future expansion plans

After a delayed start to their dream venture, the team behind McBain’s Restaurant By the River are looking to the future.

And the plans include continuing a family tradition in the kitchen.

Husband and wife Paul and Corinna McBain took over the Bank Steet business in 2019.

Coming from a long line of chefs, it fulfilled Paul’s long-held wish to run his own restaurant.

Restaurant ‘an ideal opportunity’

He was previously a head chef in the Inverness area and, with Corinna, ran the catering franchise at Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club.

“The goal was always to have our own place, so it was ideal when the opportunity arose here”, says Corinna.

“We felt there was a gap in the market for this kind of restaurant which provides good quality home-made food, produced from scratch from our own traditional recipes.

“Other places may do something similar, but we are unique in what we do.

Paul and Corinna McBain took over the business in 2019. Image Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

“However, it was a leap of faith as, like every restaurant, you wonder will people come.”

Customers did come but, just as McBain’s was starting to build a reputation among locals and visitors, Covid hit.

“We only had one year before the pandemic.

“It was unfortunate and came just as we were trying to put our stamp on the city”, says Corinna, who works front of house.

“When the lockdown ended it felt like we were starting from scratch again.

“People forget you’re here when they start coming out again. We’re still building the business as that set us back a bit.”

Riverside location an attraction

Those who have visited tend to return, with the riverside location, as well as the food, an attraction for both locals and tourists.

“I thought it was a nice spot when we looked at taking over the business”, said Corinna.

“But I didn’t realise how nice until we started working here.

“A lot of local people love coming again and again which is great to see.

“Some are very familiar and we get to know them which is really nice.

“Smaller businesses like ours need people to support us.”

The family-run business has plans to expand. Image Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

Building on their growing success, Corinna and Paul’s next step is to buy the building where they run the restaurant.

Eventually they want to expand by converting offices upstairs to add to the 32 tables they have at present.

“What we have at the moment is not big enough”, says Corinna.

“We get a lot of demand for bigger parties and we have to turn away hundreds of people at the height of the summer which is frustrating for them and us.

“It would be nice if we had a second floor to cater for more people.

“But we will take our time and make sure we do it right.”

Training for future expansion

The couple are already preparing the staff of the future, offering training opportunities and SVQ qualifications via the On Track Training scheme.

Among the trainees are a second chef, a kitchen assistant and two commis chefs. The intake includes their son David, 16, who initially wanted to train to be a PE teacher.

Corinna adds: “David worked with us in the restaurant in the summer and now really wants to be a chef.