In Mid September 2014 Castle Douglas High School put together a team to enter the Young Enterprise competition. “Young Enterprise” is a multinational scheme that is aimed at brining young entrepreneurs together. The process involves S6 students forming a company with the purpose of creating a product and business that they will have to run throughout the school year before each team going on to a regional young enterprise final where the product, team and finances are scrutinised. There are many categories and awards to be won and the overall winners qualify for the Scottish final on the 17th of June at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow.
Castle Douglas High School along with there business adviser Andrea Thomson (commissioning editor of “Dumfries and Galloway Life Magazine”) decided that there product should be based around the teams biggest asset: The town the school is situated in. Due to Castle Douglas being the “Food Town” a cookbook seemed a natural decision, and the team got to work and the business was named “Castle Dining”. With good connections in the catering and food industry recipes were collected from all over Castle Douglas and further a field. Endorsements were obtained from celebrity and local chefs such as Tom Kitchin (one Michelin star), Andrew Fairlie Scotland’s only two Michelin stared chef, local Michelin stared chef Tony Pierce and award winning local chef Tony Budde as well as recipes from local food producers and restaurants such as Silvy Weatherall from the Blackface Meat Company, Griersons Butchers, In House Chocolates as well as Lorna Willock local nutritionist and Allergy Specialist. The book also gained national status through the “Game to Eat” endorsement which was put in place due the book endorsing the under used food source of game in some of its recipes.
The Castle Dining cook book
After a few long weeks of hard work the book was ready for production, books were then sold all over the region at local craft and food fairs as well as farmers markets and Waterstones, more recently the book went on sale at Annie’s delicious bakes. Sales went well with the team making a good profit of over £800.This was the donated to two great causes, Roans and Donald’s five peak challenge for Cancer Research UK and the other half to Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders
On Tuesday the 31st of March members from the team attended the regional final at the Easterbrook Hall in Dumfries, ( Top Photo) the team had already submitted a detailed report in the weeks before underlining all the finances, goals and targets, success and hardships about the process. On the day the team set up their trade stand and also completed a presentation about there product to a packed audience, as well as taking a short interview with the judges where the product and the team were scrutinised in greater depth.
The team spent the full day at the Easterbrook Hall and after a long wait the judges began to announce the winners of the nights awards, Castle Dining won both the best trade stand and quality report and then went on to win overall and qualified for the Scottish finals at the Thistle hotel in Glasgow on the 17th of June.
The team are now working hard to try boost there chances of success and make a school from Dumfries and Galloway the first to win the Scottish finals, The team have been heavily promoting there business through the use of there Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram also there will be a YouTube channel being launched very soon which will show some of the recipes from the book and they would love your support.
Books are still on sale and can be purchased from Annie’s Delicious Bakes and Waterstones in Dumfries. The team are now looking for sponsorship to try boost their chances of success as money can be used to help improve the trade stand which is being redesigned for the finals in Glasgow. If any local business would like to help the team could they please get in touch with Jack on the following email address; [email protected].
You can Follow the teams story on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/castledining?fref=ts
Written exclusively for DGWGO by Jack Bell
