Brother and sister duo Josh and Alex McKenzie, owners of north-east catering firm Skoff, now offer a wide range of desserts as they welcome a new food van to their fleet.
The siblings revealed the launch of their new trailer, nicknamed “Skoffee”, which serves doughnuts, crepes, ice cream, earlier this month.
It comes as Josh, 27, and Alex, 25, who were brought up in the Deeside area and currently reside in Aberdeen, wanted to a taste of the sweeter things in life while increasing their catering portfolio.
Skoffee
The Skoffee van was purchased in early March last year from a company in England and all of the refurbishment work was carried out locally in Banchory.
The trailer will be used at private and public events with its debut appearance already taking place at the Royal Deeside Motor Show last weekend.
Josh said: “Our latest addition to the Skoff fleet, nicknamed our Skoffee van, is a van that serves up bean to cup coffee, crepes, doughnuts and ice cream.
“Unlucky for us, we bought another eventing van two weeks before the global pandemic’s lockdown.
“This was back in March 2020, however, we are very excited to finally get this van out and about with events already booked later this year.”
Dynamic duo
Shocked that they have been able to launch another van within the space of three years, Alex and Josh first launched their business in the late spring of 2018, bringing Skoff to the masses.
Prior to this, Alex worked in a farm and country store and Josh worked in a department store in Aberdeen.
“Both of us worked our way up the ranks but ultimately knew it wasn’t going to be our forever jobs,” Josh said.
“We are big fans of music festivals and Alex is a keen horse rider who has attended many equestrian events, so this is actually what sparked the idea.
“It took us a long time to decide on a name that suited our idea of the brand we had in mind. We knew we wanted to keep it short and memorable – and ultimately the decision was made because all we wanted people to do was to ‘skoff’ down our food and enjoy it.”
Alex added: “Our dad is also an avid catering van fan and found out that one he was a regular customer of was for sale.
“We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to step into the world of hospitality. Three years on and we’ve never looked back.”
The first Skoff van is primarily stationed at Wellheads Crescent in Dyce, although the siblings and co-owners do bring it along to local events, too.
Josh says they can serve from 800 to 1,000 people in one day at events.
‘We are very versatile’
Before the launch of Skoffee, Skoff only served up savoury options to customers, however the new addition will ensure they cover all basis.
Open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 1.30pm, the team serve up everything from breakfast rolls, daily specials and wraps to name a few.
“Our breakfast burrito is an item that will keep people full all day and our variety of fried chicken wraps are always crowd-pleasers,” said Josh.
“For our event menus, we specialise in primarily Scottish (stovies, macaroni and cheese, and haggis, neeps and tatties) and Mexican foods (burritos, nachos, homemade chunky chilli and fajitas).”
Looking to the future, the duo look to book up as many events as they can to make up for lost time, and it is most likely customers will meet the whole family as even their mum, Debbie, and brother, Jack, will be getting involved.
“We have our hands full at the moment with the new launch of the van but we’ll be looking to do as many events as this year will allow,” Alex said.
“We have such a close and supportive family which, other than our dad, also includes our mum, Debbie, and brother, Jack. None of this could be possible without them.
“If you ever see us at events, it’s usually a whole family effort to make the show run as smooth as possible.”