'It's been absolute chaos': Meet the owners of popular Dumbarton café

Victoria and Amy Edwards set up shop on Wallace Street in Dumbarton at the start of April after taking over from Helen MacKenzie, the previous owner of Scruples.

The café is located on Wallace Street (Image: Gordon Terris)

The couple told the Reporter it has been a dream come true and that they are kept busy every day thanks to the support of the local community.

Victoria said: "I’ve had a catering business for the last three years and then Amy joined in September and it’s just grown arms and legs.

“At first, I couldn’t even boil an egg or cook to save myself and my mum reminds me of that all the time.

"It all started during lockdown. I did my first dinner party in February 2020 and after that, we obviously went into lockdown so I was doing afternoon tea and brownie boxes.

“I was asked if I wanted to cater an event and then it was one after the other whilst also supplying cakes to local businesses.

“I’d be catering an event every day – sometimes multiple events a day – and it just got a bit too busy to the point where I couldn’t do it by myself.

“My wife was working full-time and then she started helping out and eventually handed in her notice and now we’re here.

“I dreamed of getting to this point but I didn’t think it was going to be possible, especially so soon.”

Victoria and Amy said they never expected to go into business together when they married three years ago (Image: Gordon Terris)

The café offers a huge range of services including breakfast, brunch, and lunch as well as homemade cakes, buffets, and theme nights – which have sold out each week since it opened.

Both Victoria and Amy have varied backgrounds in hospitality which they believe is their key to working well as a team.

After marrying at Bowling Harbour three years ago, the couple said they never expected to be in business together.

Everything on offer is homemade (Image: Gordon Terris)

Amy said: “I have no experience in the kitchen but I’ve been working in hospitality since I was about 14, mainly in front of house.

“Everybody asks ‘How do you live together, are married, and run a business?’

"It’s hard work, we have our moments but we work well together as a team.”

Victoria added: “I think it’s because we both have different experiences, I can also do front of house and Amy can also help in the kitchen.

“We get on well as a team, it’s a match made because we can use our combined skills.”

The couple have maintained some of the staples from the previous café including its incredibly popular range of soups whilst also bringing their own flare to the town.

New dishes range from Crème Brule French toast to loaded hash browns to those served during their themed nights which have so far included American, Indian, Italian, Spanish, and Turkish food.

The café has been a huge hit with people even travelling from England to test out their menu.

Amy said: “Every day since we opened, it’s been absolute chaos. Honestly, we didn’t expect it to be as busy as this at all.

“Even before we open the doors in the morning we’ll have people coming by asking if we’re open.”

Victoria added: “A lot of customers are originally from our catering business as well as customers from Scruples.

“We’re pretty much fully booked for Saturdays from now until the beginning of August.

"People have asked if we’ll open more at night and we do hope to do that but with all of our existing events, it’s kind of difficult.

“We’ve been living in Dumbarton for about six years in September and we know we’ll never move away as we have Roo’s here.

“Helen approached us last January about taking over but we weren’t in a position to do so at that point.

“The experience has been surreal so far. We had someone pick up a grazing box last week who found us from down South and travelled up to visit.”

Victoria hopes to open further locations in the future – possibly an ice cream parlour – all under the same name.

But where does ‘Roo’s Kitchen’ come from?

“I get asked this all the time,” Victoria joked.

“It’s what the catering business was called as well so we’ve tied it all together.

"Basically, when I first started working in kitchens I was called ‘Roo’, I was the baby in the kitchen, and it’s just followed me throughout different jobs in Scotland.

“I have a purpose-built kitchen at home which is where I bake all of our cakes and do all of our event catering from so it was Amy’s idea to call it ‘Roo’s Kitchen’ so it just felt right to also use it as the name of this place.”