Gillian Reith - Three Sisters Bake

We were brought up in a house warmed by cooking smells, home baking and breads fromthe Aga. Our childhood memories invariably involve craft projects, creating sculpturesfrom homemade play dough and learning to make traybakes at the kitchen table.

Our granny and grandpa owned an old-fashioned sweetie shop in a little village inScotland called Kirriemuir. As children, visiting them was like Charlie being takento the chocolate factory. We would spend hours standing on a stool behind the tallcounter helping to serve customers, dropping colourful sweets into paper bags andcounting coins at the old cash register. As well as jar upon jar of sweets, Grannyalso sold her own homemade 'tablet' (a traditional Scottish sweet, with the consistencyof a slightly crumbly fudge). Grannys tablet was so popular that she made a fulltray every day, which she cut into small squares and portioned into little bags.We were often given jobs on the tablet production line to keep us out of mischief!Nowadays, when people ask what made us want to open a caf, Im sure that watchingthe fascinating process of Granny making and selling tablet had a lot to do withit.

We were given our first real taste of the hospitality industry as teenagers, whenwe went to work in our local coffee shop. We slowly learned the art of cappuccinomaking, under the watchful eye of our boss and mentor Liz, and we watched in aweas she single-handedly ran a kitchen, manned the coffee machine, managed paperworkand charmed her army of loyal customers. She made it look so easy!

Anyone who has ever worked in a caf, kitchen, restaurant, hotel or bar will tellyou that it is hard work, but also great fun. It really gets under your skin andbecomes part of who you are. Looking back, its obvious that the allure of the hospitalityindustry had already begun to seep into each of us, even at that young age.

We all left school and went off into the world. I studied English at StrathclydeUniversity, Nichola headed for studies at Aberdeen Universitys science departmentand Linsey followed Nichola to Aberdeen University to study English.

Like most graduates, we had no idea what we wanted from life, so we independentlyset off in search of adventure. We each spent the next few years working our wayaround the world; waitressing in cafs and restaurants, cooking on luxury yachtsand in ski chalets, working in beach resorts and pulling pints of Guinness in Irishbars.

Along the way, we found time to pursue and explore our passion for food. We consumedthe fluffiest of pancakes in New York, the most exquisite Sauvignon Blanc in NewZealand, cupcakes that looked too good to eat in San Francisco and freshly caughtfish in Croatia. For a short time, Linsey lived opposite a boulangerie in Franceand sampled every pastry and tart on offer, while Nichola and I lived and workedin Australia, experiencing Melbournes enviable caf culture, gourmet brunch menusand the Aussie obsession with excellent coffee. Although plans to open a caf ofour own were still far away, we must have been subconsciously storing ideas, inspirationand flavours to call upon in the years to come.

Eventually, we all realised we must return home, to the real world and to 'grown-up'jobs. I spent a number of years working in PR and marketing, Nichola worked as aproject manager with a pharmaceutical company and Linsey in Human Resources. Ourcombined interest in food, coffee, wine and caf culture was temporarily smotheredunder files, emails and administration.

However, the sensible proper jobs werent to last and, one by one, we began tohear the call of the hospitality industry. We escaped our dull desk jobs, lured backto the helter skelter world of restaurants and cooking: Nichola worked as a baker,Linsey trained as a chef, and I worked front of house in a caf in Glasgow's WestEnd.

It didnt take long before the idea of opening a caf of our own began to firmlytake root. We would meet up for tapas and a glass of wine every week, bursting withideas about menus, logo design, business plans, potential locations, names for ourcaf and its dcor. Every detail was pored over, right down to what colour the saltand pepper mills should be!

After months and months of looking, we eventually found a suitable premises to launchour caf business. The terrifying process of turning our dreams into a reality beganto take shape as we knocked down walls, painted doors, built furniture and filledthe shelves with produce. Eventually, in October 2011, we were ready to open ourdoors.

Since then we have had a rollercoaster time of it as our family has grown both atthe caf and at home. We have recruited staff who have become integral members ofthe Three Sisters Bake team. Weve made firm friends with many of our local customersand have started a weekly knitting group and Baby Social group. Weve also squeezedin some maternity leave; I had a little girl, Rosie, in 2012 and Nichola had babyTate in 2013!

Although we have a great team working with us now, we are all still actively involvedin the running of the caf. Nichola heads up our wedding cake business, Linsey managesour outside catering orders and I look after our food truck and events.