Kat Gilmour, Bowhouse Link and Market Assistant

Bowhouse has become like a home from home for me over the past year. I have several roles within the business that have grown, adapted and have been given so many opportunities to expand my knowledge of the Food and Drink Sector in Scotland.  
 
A role I’ve been learning a lot from is with Bowhouse Link; an online shopping platform for our customers to shop local food and drink producers – all under the same website. This features all our resident businesses at Bowhouse, as well as lots of other familiar faces from our Bowhouse Markets. I’ve been getting to know all the customers and traders on a personal level, understanding their needs and always striving to help problem solve. It can be a challenge to coordinate so many different producers, but also a very rewarding one. As we roll into Autumn it’s been exciting to see the seasonal produce change, who knew there were so many varieties of squash!?  
 
I’ve been helping with the Bowhouse social media pages alongside the Link role. This has included developing new posts, stories, reels, responding to queries and lots and lots of picture taking! There’s always tonnes happening behind such a busy, bustling venue so it’s exciting to negotiate your artistic side and work on marketing the business as a team.  
 
As well as this, I am team member of the Grain and Sustain shop, one of the resident traders here at Bowhouse. Grain and Sustain is a zero-waste store with a predominate focus on sustainable and ethical shopping. You can fill your re-usable containers with all sorts of goodies and keep using them again and again! Open for the last year we’ve been developing a strong customer base in the East Neuk. A typical day for me looks like, weighing, bagging and packing any orders we may have, cleaning down the surfaces, chit-chatting with all our lovely customers and filling up any low food dispensers. 
 
I’m looking forward to our October market this weekend. It’s a great opportunity to speak to traders and visitors alike from all over Scotland. This month not only do we have the crafts back to join the food and drink in the market hall, but we will also be hosting a more seasonal activity of apple pressing. What better way to use up an abundance of apples from your orchard by making a fresh juice (or leave it a little longer for homemade cider – yum!)