“A lot of people think I make my accent and dialect up, they don’t believe it’s real.”
Even though I have family in Shetland, Island Larder owner Nicola Johnston tells me she is “knappin” for me, which means to speak more ‘proper’ English.
“When I was at university, I did knap, but I never changed the way I spoke. For one, I couldn’t, but also I didn’t think it was fair that I should.”
And it’s a good thing 35-year-old Nicola has always felt passionate about her dialect, because millions of people across the world now want to hear it.
From Shetland to the world
Born in Whalsay, an island off the east coast of Shetland, Nicola started working at what was then The Shetland Fudge Company when she was only 14.
“It wasn’t the treats I enjoyed most; it was being part of the experience of coming to Shetland for visitors,” she said.
“I loved being able to give them something that had been made in Shetland with all Shetland ingredients. I am so proud of Shetland and always have been, so I want people to leave feeling like it’s a cool place to be.”
@islandlarder I tried to edit the captions but it went all wonky on the Shetland dialect! Sorry! 😅 #Shetland #sweettooth #handmade #smallbusiness #scottish #Shetlanddialect
Nicola studied business management in Glasgow, but went home seasonally to work in the shop, working her way up through the ranks. In 2014, after pitching a rebrand to the then owner inspired by a farm shop she had visited outside Edinburgh, it was hers.
“At the time, the business was making a loss, but within six months we rebranded and turned it into a profitable business,” said Nicola.
“It just grew arms and legs, going from one strength to another. We outgrew our premises, so we got a second one, then we outgrew both premises and kitchens and that’s when we rebranded again and became Island Larder in Lerwick in February 2020.”
Two weeks later, the world went into lockdown, and Nicola was left with a premises
spread across nine levels and a business plan she couldn’t progress with. Then, along came TikTok.
“We got an audit done through Business Gateway and it was very good, but the last two bullet points said ‘do more TikTok videos’ and ‘think about starting a YouTube channel’,” explained Nicola.
“I thought ‘oh no’ at first, I am pretty old fashioned that way. But the very next day, I parked the car and filmed myself walking into work, then making marshmallows. We had a really big order at the time so I was making eight different types I hadn’t made in a year because they weren’t that popular. Then I made a second video, and that’s the one that went wild. It was a lease of life that we never expected.”
Island Larder
Island Larder sells handmade marshmallows, chocolate fudge, Scottish tablet, hot chocolate, ice cream and much-loved Puffin Poo – which is white Belgian chocolate, toasted rice and fluffy mini mallows rolled in coconut. Millions of people across the globe have tuned into videos of Nicola making it all, each including a voiceover in her Shetland accent and dialect.
“It was my father-in-law who told me one day that one of my videos had 12 million views on it,” said Nicola.
“I can’t quite grasp how many people that is, I still don’t even really understand it. I have just shy of 100,000 followers on TikTok and one of my team members said to imagine I had that many people standing outside my shop. There are only 22,000 people on the whole of Shetland.”
While the tasty treats draw people to Island Larder’s social media accounts, what keeps them there is Nicola’s accent. The comment sections on her videos are flooded with amazement and intrigue, but it’s not all positive.
“I’m not one to go looking for negative comments, but people tell me they’re there,” said Nicola.
“Saying that though, the videos have sparked interest in why our dialect is the way it is. It’s bringing up conversations about the history of Shetland; some people don’t even know it exists or where it is. I want people to know about us. I don’t know how you would even go about trying to make the videos fancy; it’s just unapologetically me and our business.”
She added: “I was at a show in Glasgow in January and the amount of people who would say ‘are you the marshmallow lady?’ was crazy.
“They wanted photos with me and everything. That floored me a little bit, but I stopped myself and thought ‘no, I have to embrace this’.”
‘Shetland has my heart’
Nicola runs Island Larder with her husband, Magnus. Their two young sons couldn’t be happier to have parents who run a sweetie shop. Though she enjoys visits to the mainland she has never had any doubt where she belongs.
@islandlarder Spend a morning with me in Shetland with 4 seasons in one day and LOTS of Mallow ☁️ #Shetland #Islandlarder #Scottish #scottishtiktok #smallbusiness #mallow #marshmallow
“Home is home, Shetland has my heart,” said Nicola.
“When you are younger you don’t really know a place as anything other than home and that’s what Shetland was to me. Now that I am older, I realise just how different life is here. I love everything about Shetland, there’s nothing I love more. Because of where we are and how isolated we are, we have been able to preserve a lot of our history, as well as our dialect and way of life.
“Even though I think life here is a little bit harder than on the mainland, it’s enjoyable and it’s real. I am proud to be flying the flag for Shetland.
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