Co-owner loses his £200,000 pension on Pitcrocknie restaurant

By Stephen Eighteen

May 7 2022, 5:52am

The co-owner of the Pitcrocknie restaurant and café in Alyth has revealed he has lost his £200,000 pension in the venture.

Scott Macdonald and his wife Donna have decided the restaurant will close for good on Sunday May 15 due to plunging takings amid increased costs.

In December 2016 the pair set up the business at the disused clubhouse of the former Glenisla Golf Course and initially enjoyed steady growth.

But the restaurant has never fully recovered from the first Covid lockdown in March 2020 and the decision to call it quits has been a heartbreaking one.

Pitcrocknie restaurant co-owner Donna Macdonald and daughter Corrine.

Scott, who will be 65 at the end of May, says: “I was in the fire service before this and when I retired I withdrew the lump sum of my pension and I have lost that.

“It was £200,000. That’s what I put in over the few years. There is no sign of it getting any better. You don’t put £200,000 into something and expect to lose it.”

In this feature, the Alyth man reflects on his five-and-a-half years at Pitcrocknie and we talk to customers who have been left “heartbroken” by news of the closure.

It is split into the following sections:

Owner’s reflections
Customer sadness

Owner’s reflections

These may be the final days of his tenure but Scott is rightly proud to be in charge of the Pitcrocknie café and restaurant.

The building’s cone-shaped roof allied with a sparse interior create a sense of space befitting its quiet location on the eastern edge of the former Glenisla Golf Course.

It overlooks a section that was taken over by Alyth Golf Club so the views from the many window tables are of the beautifully lush golf course.

The view from the Pitcrocknie restaurant.

“We’ve got the best views of any restaurant in Tayside,” says Scott.

“You could see the potential in it but the drawback was that it was previously a golf club and many people still saw it as this instead of a restaurant.

“It took a while to overcome that problem but we were beginning to get there. We were improving and getting better food.

“It was becoming better known. On Trip Advisor we have a five-star rating.”

‘It was picking up’

The restaurant is owned by Glenisla Developments Limited (GDL), which is building more than 200 homes and nine commercial units on the remaining 140 acres of the former Glenisla Golf Couse.

“They have been very good with us,” Scott says. “They don’t want to see it close as a restaurant but we are caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Even after the first lockdown in summer there were signs of optimism.

“We opened the beer garden on July 16,” he says. “We put a marquee in it and got a lot of different trade – it was picking up again.”

‘It was more predictable before Covid’

But further lockdowns created more unpredictability and staffing soon became a nightmare – both in terms of recruitment and planning.

“One of the chefs left but it was impossible to replace him,” Scott says. There was a foreign candidate but he was looking for accommodation that we don’t have.

“We advertised on Indeed and others but we couldn’t get anybody. The hospitality industry is the same everywhere.

“Although it is a beautiful location, getting here can be a problem. We need 70 people-plus in a day. Evenings can be the best but we found it wasn’t worth opening then.

“On some Wednesdays every seat is full during the day. On a good day there could be 45 people at the one time, but the next Wednesday there could be 10 people for the entire day.

“So the staffing was a problem and predicting your food was a problem. You would staff a full restaurant one week. The next week comes and you have a full set of staff only for 10 people.

“It was more predictable before Covid.”

‘If you think the war in Ukraine doesn’t affect you, think again’

Already in a vulnerable position, inflation in recent months has pushed Scott and Donna to a sad point of no return.

VAT has been a factor. In July 2020 the rate was reduced from 20% to 5% to help hospitality firms navigate Covid restrictions.

It increased to 12.5% on October 2021 and then went back to the previous 20% on April 1 this year.

Customers enjoying a bite to eat in the restaurant.

Scott says: “We managed to absorb the 12.5% but when it went back up to 20% in April we had to pass it to the customers because everything else had gone up as well.

“If you think the war in Ukraine doesn’t affect you, think again. Just a year ago we were paying £20 for 20 litres of oilseed rape that we use for our deep fat fryer. It’s now £40 – that’s a 100% increase.

“Electricity has gone up from 30p to 70p so that again is a 100% increase. Every other aspect has gone up.

“We use liquid petroleum gas for some of our cooking. Again, that’s gone up 78%. We can’t keep putting it on to the customer. And if we don’t put it on to the customer we can’t survive.

“Customers are squeezed as well. The cost of living has gone up so there is less disposable income.

“Although we have the best views and location, the location works against us because people have to drive to get here. And fuel has gone up in price.”

‘There could be quite a few restaurants closing down’

Closing the restaurant will leave four staff without jobs.

“We kept thinking it was getting better and better but then we had problems with lockdowns and lack of staff.

“We are one of the first to jump and say ‘no more’. I think you will find there could be quite a few restaurants closing down.”

The couple have roots in the local town. Scott was born and bred in Alyth, while Donna worked in hospitality in the St Andrews area after attending the old Alyth High School as a child. She has also worked on Peter Marshall Farms.

They have been overwhelmed by the support they have received since making the closure announcement on their Facebook page on Wednesday.

Their post was shared 49 times and received 182 comments from those sad to see the restaurant go.

Cakes have been popular with the customers.

“We were not going to be millionaires but you can’t keep losing money,” adds Scott.

“Donna is finding it very difficult. Everyone wants to speak to her just now but she doesn’t want to go through all the details because it upsets her. It upsets everybody.

“It will be a blow for the locals. People in Alyth don’t come here so much because you don’t want to go for an hour run and just have a cup of tea – you want to go further.

“So you get people from Kirriemuir and even people coming up from Edinburgh, having said they saw it on Trip Advisor.

“Somebody else will take it on, I’m quite sure. They may use a different business model and there might be a different response.

“We just hope that they do.”

May 15 was chosen as the closing date due to a longstanding booking with a hill-walking group on that day.

Customer sadness

Kirriemuir friends Sandra Affleck and Mary McIntosh felt compelled to dine out at Pitcrocknie after reading of its imminent closure that morning.

The Alyth eatery is on a ‘rota’ of four places they regularly meet up in on Thursdays, so it felt right to mark the closure with a farewell visit.

“I read today that it was going to close so we had to come here,” says Sandra, 79.

“This is a very special place. We love the place, we love the food, we love the view, we love the ambience and we love the service.

“If someone takes it over it will be great because the business will stay alive, but Donna has worked her proverbial socks off to make it a success and has produced some beautiful cakes.

“Donna’s baking is a huge big part of the appeal because it is real home baking – not made from any packs or a scone mix, or anything like that. She makes everything from scratch and you just don’t get that elsewhere.

“It is heartbreaking that it is closing because they have put their hearts and souls into it.”

‘It is going to be so hard to beat’

Mary, 92, says the Pitcrocknie is a particular attraction for the folk of Kirriemuir.

“There is no place in Kirrie like this,” she adds. “There is nowhere that has the attraction of this place, with the location.

“We have enjoyed this so much and it is going to be so hard to beat. Anyone new is going to have to work their socks off to keep it going.

“The owners have put their heart and soul into it. All they want to do is make a reasonable living so it is tragic that it is going to close – and it won’t be the only one.”