You’d be hard pushed not to like Julie-Ann Whyte, with her humble work ethic and bright outlook.
Having travelled the world in the oil and gas industry, you’d think Julie-Ann would now be living the high life having successfully pushed for redundancy during the pandemic.
Goodness knows she’s earned it having climbed the ladder during a career which spanned 29 years.
On her own admission, she had a well-paid job but Julie-Ann is driven by something far greater than profit.
Indeed she is yet to make money as such, given that she invested thousands into a dream based in her childhood haunts of New Pitsligo in Fraserburgh.
The small Aberdeenshire village might not seem to offer ultimate ambitions, on the surface at least, but fate was perhaps already decided when Julie-Ann set up a community shop there.
The Covid-19 Community Support Shop supported furloughed workers by giving them free items, and Julie-Ann, who is secretary of New Pitsligo Community Council, was at the helm of the heartfelt project.
But never could she have imagined that she would go on to become owner of a nostalgic greengrocer, employ 10 staff, and sell 150 pies a day!
Whytes of New Pitsligo has proved incredibly popular, with people visiting from across the north-east for a slice of homemade goodness.
We caught up with Julie-Ann and discovered why the shop is just the beginning.
Tell me a little about yourself
I worked in the oil and gas industry for 29 years, I was a senior manager and also worked as vice president of business development.
I got to travel all over the word, but when the pandemic happened I started to think I might like a new challenge.
I put myself forward for redundancy, and my boss thought I was joking.
I was born and bred in New Pitsligo, and I’d split my time between Aberdeen and the village.
The idea was city life during the week and the countryside at the weekend.
Did The Covid-19 Community Support Shop inspire you to run your own business?
I put my heart and soul into the shop, and we managed to raised £14,000 for the village.
I really loved doing it, we ran it for around a year and a half.
I was away on holiday when my mum text me to say Mrs Lawrence’s shop and house was up for sale.
Mrs Lawrence was my old dance teacher, and she ran a shop called The Mace.
It had been sat doing nothing for around 20 years after her husband died, and it must have been more than 30 years since I had been inside her house.
What made you decide to go for it?
I said to my husband, I’m going to buy the shop and of course he just laughed.
But I was serious and as my husband is a solicitor, he got a surveyor round to the property so we’d know a rough price.
I think I found out about it all on the Tuesday, and by the Friday my offer had been accepted.
I remember thinking to myself, this is crazy!
I’ve just gone and brought a shop and I haven’t even been inside.
When we did go to look, we had to sneak inside as this is quite a small village and I wanted to keep it secret for a little while.
Was a revamp required before you could open?
We opened on April Fool’s day, how crazy is that?
But there was so much work to be done beforehand, especially as water had got in.
But from the very beginning, I could see the potential.
Now we have the shop up and running, I’ve got plans to turn the house into a tearoom.
What has the response been like?
I kept everything quiet, and then on my birthday I did a post on social media.
The reaction was absolutely amazing.
I thought it would be five minutes of well done, but people come from all over because of what we offer.
We’ve had someone from Stonehaven and we even had someone from Orkney.
He came on the ferry for a gig in Aberdeen and ended up finding out about us.
He came in to the shop, tasted one of our pies and ended up taking 22 pies back to Orkney.
These pies sound incredible, have they proved popular?
Our whole concept is based around local produce.
Our pies come from Pie Aroma which is of course based in the north-east and there are so many different flavours.
Chicken and barbecue sass, pork and black pudding.
We worked out that in the first six months, we sold 17,400 pies.
There is a retired lady, and she was having a tough time during Covid after her husband passed away.
She makes amazing cheesecake, including gluten-free cheesecake, pork pies and quiche alongside her own hen and duck eggs.
Doing all this is her motivation to get up in the morning, the thought that people want to order her cheesecake in advance.
We have Blue Toon Bakes, Col’s baking kits and The World’s Best Buttery.
They won the competition in 2018, and we have around 400 butteries delivered every Friday. We always sell out.
Is that element of small independent business important to you?
Yes, I knew that if I was going to do this then I had to be independent.
I could never be a brand, I wanted to be me.
We’ve got the old fashioned canopy outside and that’s what people like.
There is no pressure, we’re not about going ‘next customer.’
You can come and have a look around, spend as long as you want here.
Have there been challenges?
Of course; this is going to be a bad year for so many people because of the cost of living.
Our electricity bill for the business was £7000, thousands more than estimated.
But I do not give up.
It is the buzz, the high of knowing I have been able to give back.
I went from a highly paid job to making no money at all.
I will at some point apparently!
There was also a fire in the kitchen staffroom last September.
But as a result, we’re now doing a commercial kitchen, meaning we’ll be able to serve fresh bread in 16 different flavours.
I have always said that you are the one who wakes up in the morning and decides how your day is going to be.
What’s next for the business?
I am so excited for the next phase which will be the tea room.
There’s a lovely coal fire inside the house so it will be great for winter, and in the summer people can sit out in the garden which is in two tiers.
This has all been so much more than I ever expected, I thought I would be catering for locals only.
But people come from all over and so many people follow us on social media, they’re interested in what we do.