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If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in the breathtaking Scottish Highlands, make sure you stop by Birch. You’ll find them serving great coffee in Portree, Isle of Skye, and Inverness. 

In this decent conversation we chatted with owner Niall to talk about the inspiration behind the cafés, his local recommendations, an exciting new extension of his brand, plus more.  

Let’s start from the beginning, what inspired you to open Birch, and how did the idea come to life? 

It’s a bit of a mixed bag; my main inspiration came from having a real passion for coffee and good food around me. My mum was a chef and always experimented with ideas and recipes that I probably didn't appreciate as a kid but certainly did as I grew up. Also, my older sister lives in Melbourne so I've spent a lot of time out there over the years. I really appreciated the coffee and brunch culture there. But my background in the food side of things came from working with my brother, who owns a fine dining restaurant on Skye.  

I started Birch after working at my brother’s restaurant. I always liked the idea of having something more accessible but still utilising wonderful produce and ingredients. I started with a coffee van at a tourist spot on Skye, that randomly served coffee and chowder. It's not a thing you’d normally pair, but the beauty of it was that I made the chowder with all the off cuts of fish that my brother’s restaurant didn't use.  

Then a shop became available in the main town of Portree. I didn't have a grand plan of getting into a shop, I just saw that it had become available and thought it would be a good opportunity to expand our offering. Same thing in Inverness, I was walking down the High Street one day and noticed this shop front available. That’s coming up to two years ago, which is crazy.  

In that whole process, what are the biggest lessons that you've had to learn?

That's a good question. I guess just keeping track of costs and ensuring things run as smoothly as possible, whilst always being on top of the mundane and menial tasks that are involved in running a business, like paperwork, tax and VAT returns.  

Equally, I like the fact that Birch has grown organically. In the past five years we've gained a bit of momentum and people recognise us within the Highlands and further afield. Seizing opportunities if you feel there is real value to them is very important. And always ensuring every new venture comes from a place of real passion.

We love that you use decent for your custom branding, how did you find that process and why did you choose us as your packaging partner? 

 I like the ethos behind decent, but also the aesthetic of the products. Obviously, we've got custom branded cups but even your own stock cups and the colours decent offer. I don't truly feel like there's any other competitor in the market that offer a similar product. 

Decent is the best offering for the kind of cups and things that we want. You get lots of packaging companies that aren't necessarily aware of the how important the branding element is. Branding is a huge part of any business, so that’s the main reason we use decent.  

Moving on to your most recent project, your Land Rover Defender, which looks epic! What motivated you to start that mobile coffee option? 

Aside from just the fun aspect of having an old defender… I'm always asked to do events. It’s something I’ve dabbled in the past, and when we’ve done them, we’ve generally thrown together a last-minute mobile coffee setup that doesn’t represent Birch well at all, so it’s nice to have something that suits our aesthetic a little more. The Birch defender is also like a little brand ambassador on wheels.  

How would you recommend someone spend a perfect day on The Isle of Skye? Or what are main things you should do if you're visiting Skye. 

If you were staying in Portree, I'd obviously say come to Birch for breakfast and coffee, and then going around the north end and seeing An Corran Beach and The Old Man of Storr. I would go to my brother's restaurant, Scorrybreac, to finish the night off with some dinner and a cocktail.  

My childhood friend Clare also has a cafe on Skye called Cafe Cuil so I'd recommend going there and then to Talisker Beach, which is a phenomenal spot.  

How do you try to look after your mental health or wind down/take a break outside of work?

I play a lot of badminton; it’s a big passion of mine. I love the competitive aspect of it, but I also love putting my phone away for a couple hours. I like to eat out, get outdoors and hang out with my girlfriend and family.  

I travel as much as I can as well. Throughout the season, it's quite tricky to get away but that's also the beauty of the seasonality of Skye and Inverness. In the wintertime, you can have a bit more freedom to go away. That's my creative time as well. When it's the busy season, you don't have as much room to think of new ideas and concepts. 

To finish us off, is there anything else you'd like to highlight about Birch? 

The whole process of Birch has been a real labour of love and a passion project. Nothings ever been forced and I’ve never really had a grand plan for it. I think the way to make anything successful is by having an amazing team - everyone has so many cool ideas, and it’s all about bringing those ideas together and seeing if they can work. It’s always, ‘let’s try it and see what happens - if I can help make it work, great, and if not, we move on.’ I think that approach is important. I'm also someone who likes change - I feel that's as important for me as it is for the staff working with you, so things don't become stagnant and stale. 

Big thanks to Niall for sharing his story and for giving us one more reason to plan a trip to Isle of Skye!  

See more from Birch on their Instagram.