A young Highland entrepreneur is expanding his chocolate business with plans for a coffee shop in Kyle now approved.
Finlay Macdonald, 20, founded Chocolates of Glen Shiel at his family home when he was 17.
The business has gone from strength to strength, with local partnerships and Scottish products as its cornerstone.
The Kyle coffee shop will be in Duncan Macpherson Court, in a corner unit on the ground floor of a new block of flats.
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Mr Macdonald said it will offer quality coffee with locally-made cakes and Glen Shiel chocolates, with the opportunity also to buy the chocolates and products made by the Highland companies whose ingredients are used in the chocolates.
He said: “It’s a lovely curved unit with lots of windows and light which we’re going to kit out in modern style with lots of wood and touches of tasteful tweed.
“We hope to have it ready in October.
“We hope tourists will enjoy it, but that’s seasonal and we want it to be somewhere locals can go, especially after 5pm when everything tends to close in the town.
“I recognise my time could easily get taken up by the shop so will be looking for someone with experience to run it. I’m happy to steer and delegate.”
Mr Macdonald’s production centre will remain in the cabin at home at Ratagan House on the shores of Loch Duich.
The company is now producing chocolates at the rate of 1,000 per day, painstakingly hand-made and packed.
There are 15 in the range, in four selections – gin, whisky, alcohol-free and mixed.
Mr Macdonald said working with other Highland companies supply the ingredients for the chocolates was a vital part of his ethos.
He said: “When you buy Scottish things, you support Scottish jobs.
“We work with distilleries including Talisker and Raasay, with the Inverness Coffee Roasting Company and with Heather Hills farm for their honey, which we pair with raspberries from Bruce Farm next door.
“We like to think the bees pollinate the raspberries we use.”
Mr Macdonald has recently expanded his team to five, with two seasonal workers joining Ethan Snitch on production and sales, and former school mate Megan Macdonald running production.
He said: “Megan and I sat together in business management class at Plockton High. When it came to finding our new coffee shop premises it was again thanks to that class – I bumped into my old teacher parked up in the car and he pointed the units out.”
Chocolates of Glen Shiel recently secured a £32,000 investment from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) enabling the company to upgrade its premises and install larger scale equipment.