“One of our regular customers often jokes with us that we are her therapy, as it’s much cheaper!”
Growing up, Aaron Barclay always knew he wanted to work in the hospitality industry.
Admittedly “very much a people person” and a lover of all things food – always baking and cooking in his spare time – the 22-year-old has worked at various north-east firms in the field.
He is currently the manager at Kintore’s The Hummingbird Café, which can be found within The Residence, relishing the role from the get go.
The Hummingbird Café has ‘created a real community hub’
Aaron, who is also referred to as Mr Hummingbird, grew up in Kintore but recently moved to Bucksburn.
He is part of a close-knit team of three at The Hummingbird Café, which was founded by Rebecca Carr in August 2020.
According to Rebecca, “Aaron has been running the show since day one.”
“I love being able to come to work every day and enjoy being there, seeing what everyone is up to and being a part of peoples’ daily routine,” says Aaron, as he shares his experience of working at the Kintore business.
The highlights keep pouring in.
“Having the trust and support of Rebecca whilst growing the café together, being able to implement new ideas and menus, and watch as they gain popularity amongst our customers.
“I feel blessed to have built up a really good relationship with a lot of our customers who keep supporting us and coming back for more!”
Rebecca added: “With having the well-established Rebecca Carr Hair Salon with Beauty at The Residence and Kintore Car Sales, creating The Hummingbird Café was just what we needed to create a perfect hub within our community.
“It’s the perfect meeting spot which complements all our surrounding businesses with the benefit of parking right outside the door too.”
Testing out treats in the salon and café regulars become part of the furniture
With its location, it would only be fitting for the salon team to put some potential sweet treat offerings to the test “to make sure they’re up to standard.”
That they do.
Rebecca has built a portfolio of loyal clients over the years, one of which, Holly, recently started her first job at The Hummingbird Café.
“We trained her up from the beginning and put her on a food hygiene course so she’s now all set and ready when she starts uni in Glasgow. She’ll have no trouble at all getting another job in the food industry,” adds Aaron.
And speaking of loyal customers, the manager knows to keep a table free every Friday morning as the Kintore café welcomes a group of mums that meet up weekly.
“We even know their orders off by heart, so they don’t even have to ask!
“We see a lot of loyal regular customers who have supported us from day one. Word of mouth speaks volumes. Even as Kintore grows there is still a small village feel where we know lots about our customers’ lives and what they’re up to.”
The menu that keeps people coming back for more
The Hummingbird Café prides itself on offering excellent service and food and drinks to match.
It has a varied menu that caters to everyone, which can also be served in the salon.
Breakfast rolls, toasties, paninis, homemade soups, salads, baked potatoes, wood-fired pizzas, coffees and alcohol (such as wine, prosecco, beer and cider) feature.
On the sweet front, there’s its ‘famous’ homemade scones – which are made fresh daily and “always sell out” – freshly-baked pastries, ice cream and homemade tray bakes.
Aaron said: “Our homemade cakes are a real hit. Millionaire shortbread and honeymoon slice are the favourites.
“Since starting our wood-fired pizza last year, these have proved so popular this year with regular customers ordering ahead each week.
“We’ve introduced wood-fired pizza sandwiches as an option for lunchtime, which have closely followed our pizzas in popularity.”
The business proudly supports a line-up of local businesses, including Katy’s Eggs, The Bread Maker, J & G Dossett Butchers, Caber Coffee, Grampian Packaging, Packed Up, and G & A Reid.
What’s to come for Kintore café if demand continues to soar…
The café also boasts an expansive outdoor seating area and an adjacent purpose built ‘baby birds area’ – a safe, enclosed environment for kids to play.
Aaron went on: “We are often asked to expand our seating area, so we’re hoping with this continued support from the local community we can look at adding different options to grow the business and its offering as demand increases.”
Looking to the winter months, the team will be hosting its Christmas at Rebecca Carr event on Sunday, November 24 after its inaugural success last year.
There will be a variety of stallholders and local businesses in attendance to raise funds for The Archie Foundation.
The Hummingbird Café plans to release a festive desserts menu once again, too.
“There is no better feeling than leaving the salon with a full pamper, new hair and delicious food from The Hummingbird Café,” says Aaron.
“The people around us is definitely why I love my job so much. The very loyal customers we see daily, these are the people that keep supporting us and make us the best place we can be.”
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