Wild Rover Q&A

Wild Rover Food Catherine Kilgour
  • Company:
  • Wild Rover Food
  • Contact:
  • Catherine Kilgour
  • Robert Wright

Q. Your names, ages and where you live?

Catherine Kilgour, 30 and Robert Wright, 36. We live in the lovely little conservation village, Charlestown, near Dunfermline.

Q. What does your business do, what makes it unique and when did you launch?

With Wild Rover Food, we sell freshly prepared Scottish cuisine from our restored 1961 Land Rover (Bessie) and Field Kitchen (Bert). We really want to promote local and seasonal produce, grown on farms, sold by local butchers and fishmongers, and sometimes foraged ourselves! We travel to festivals, events, and markets, bringing different menus that perhaps showcase flavours not usually cooked at a street food level. Pigeon and Beetroot Wraps, served with caramelised onions and mixed salad leaves is a typical example.

Q. How and why did you both start in business?

We gave up our careers last year to pursue something that we hoped would be more closely aligned with our ethics and values. Rob grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland, and was working as a Landscape Architect, while I was an Editor for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. By writing about environmental issues and farming, I became increasingly interested in a different way of life, and Rob missed the upbringing he’d enjoyed. So, we volunteered on farms for a few months last summer, and spent the time trying to formalise our ideas. We’d love to be growing our own produce one day, but the Wild Rover seemed like a really good way of testing out our business credentials and learning more about food and farming networks.

Q. How did you both get to where you are today?

We’ve invested a lot of ourselves into this business, and that makes it as much as an expression of ourselves as a stand-alone enterprise. From the restoration of the vehicles, to designing the logo, making the signage, building the website, making the bunting and sourcing the food, we’ve worked at it all together. Although it’s been really hard work, it means we know the business inside out, and I think that has really pushed us to succeed.

Q. Who has helped you along the way?

My parents, Rob’s family; it’d would have all been much harder without their support. Business Gateway Fife was great for some hand-holding (and reality checks!) too. Meetings with our advisor there gave us structure to the development stage of our business. Having someone completely neutral, who can look at your ideas without the emotional investment, really is invaluable.

Q. What was your biggest mistake?

Making a 51 year old land rover a crucial part of your business plan!

Q. What is your greatest achievement to date?

Making said land rover work! And being shortlisted for the British Street Food Awards (we’re competing in September) – that just feels amazing.

Q. What do you hope to achieve in the future?

We would like to grow a more educational arm to our business, perhaps working with young people, demonstrating fresh cooking at farm visits for schools, or working with a social enterprise. We would, as mentioned, love to be growing our own stuff one day – if anyone has a redundant walled garden out there, please get in touch!

Q. Do you want to recruit/franchise/taken on another vehicle or expand the business in some way? What are your reasons?

We’re not sure about this yet. We’ve only been trading a few months, and so we need to review our business at the end of this summer. We’ve been hesitant to expand, as people comment that we are the Wild Rovers, as much as the vehicle and brand. So, if we did recruit/franchise I think it would be important to find people who embrace the same sort of ideas. They would have to be a bit nuts anyway – particularly with the awful summer weather we’re having, it can be really hard work when you can’t see your feet beneath the puddles!

Q. What is the hardest thing about running your own business?

Not being able to talk about anything else for the first six months!

Q. Any advice to wannabe entrepreneurs?

Really do your research, and if you’re going into business with someone, make sure you share the same ideas as close to 100% as you can. Although the actual building of Wild Rover Food happened fairly quickly, we spent many months beforehand exploring our ideas, and discarding a good many of them. I think that’s why we felt we’d got the right thing with Wild Rover; it stuck.   Q. Who is your greatest inspiration and why?

It would be difficult to pick out one person really, but there have certainly been a few key people along the way. Greg Pascoe from Cusgarne Organic Farm in Cornwall, who helped us on our way. Rod & Bens Organic Soups, where we worked for a month and learned more than we hope for. And Barry of the Coffee Engine, who very generously gave up his time to come and mentor us through one of our first events.

Q. How would your friends describe you both?

They see the strengths we bring out in each other. I don’t think either of us would have started Wild Rover on our own, but they comment on how our personalities make it work together. Our friends have been hugely supportive – whether it’s turning up at events for a bit of a gee-up or having us over for dinner when we can’t face cooking after a weekend of catering!

Q. Favourite film and book? Why?

I love books that feed you titbits of information, so that you have room to fill in the blanks. I’ve just finished Maggie O’Farrell’s After You’d Gone, which had me gripped on land rover journeys when it’s impossible to talk to each other above the drone of the engine. Rob is currently reading 'another' history of the world, but a version aimed at younger people rather than the big Penguin version that took him 2 years to read!

Q. How do you relax?

A bit of yoga (though not enough), our local pub folk night session, and the kindliness of our neighbours. Charlestown has been the perfect place to start up a new business; there are a lot of residents working from home in a creative profession (photography, picture-framing, stain-glass work, architecture…) and so it’s been a really supportive environment. When you’re having a blip, there always someone nearby to drink coffee and console!

Q. If you could cook for anyone who would it be, what would you cook and where would you ideally like to serve the meal?

This year? The judges at the British Street Food Awards, and we’ll keep the rest a secret until then!