Martin Greenhalgh has always liked to experiment with food and adventurous flavours.
Before Covid, he and his wife Diane used to run a cafe EL Bistro on Elgin’s High Street.
When he spotted an empty shop at 159 Mid Street in Keith available to rent, it was seen as a opportunity to open up a new business offering homemade pizza, pasta and ice cream.
Greenhalgh’s Ice Cream & Trattoria has already become a hit with locals.
Earlier this month, in their opening weekend they sold out all their ice cream.
Martin said: “We had a faith cafe in Elgin before Covid called EL Bistro which means God and powerful creator in Hebrew.
“All the food was homemade which people really enjoyed.
“Then at some point, we started to make ice cream to see if we could turn our hands it and all the flavours have a global influence.”
The couple have funded the transformation of what was an empty unit into their shop with their own money.
He added: “It used to be a former tattoo shop and I noticed it was up to rent.
“Then I phoned up the number on the door and chatted to him about our plan for the space.
“We believe this shop was a gift from God and we are so thankful.
“Our faith is really important to us as we have been through a lot.”
The shop has a huge selection of flavours – and Martin is developing a vegan ice cream too.
He said: “We want to take customers on a journey around the world with different ice cream flavours.
“We want to keep experimenting with different flavours.
“But we do have the usual flavours like vanilla, and strawberry too.
“Also all the pizza and pastas are homemade.”
‘Grateful for the support’
He has praised locals for their overwhelming support.
Martin added: “When we first opened we ran out of ice cream and it was a chest freezer volume which was amazing.
“From then on, we have had really steady support from the locals which we are so grateful about.
“Many people are commenting that they have never had something like this before which is great to hear.
“It is great to see people enjoying our pizza, pasta and ice cream.”
Could Greenhalgh’s Ice Cream & Trattoria expand?
Martin has ambitions to grow the business.
He said: “Our ambitions are to see if we can become as big as possible to franchise and open up in different areas.
“That is the aim if we can hit the dizzy heights.”
The business is opened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
He is hoping to hold retreats on Wednesday evenings.
Conversation