As a chef in the north-east for 25 years, John Paul Johnston always loved making Scottish food.
So when he launched his own food truck, he knew exactly what to do.
“There’s a lot of burgers and fries out there, but there’s not a lot of people doing proper Scottish home cooking,” he says.
Just over a week ago, John Paul, better known as JP, opened up his own mobile food trailer on Burghmuir Circle in Inverurie.
Bright orange and hard to miss, JP’s Kitchen sits yards from Morrisons and serves up a hearty range of Scottish breakfasts and traditional home-cooked classics.
It is the culmination of JP’s life-long dream to start his own business after more than two decades working for other people.
In a varied career, the 47-year-old has been head chef at Aberdeen city centre pub The Stag and most recently at the Bennachie Lodge in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire.
“I thought about it years ago, but never kind of got around to it. But then just thought, you know what, let’s just do it. Why not?”
What can I get at JP’s Kitchen?
JP and wife Jenny, who runs the business with him, start early to get ready for the breakfast rush. The menu is varied but there’s no doubting JP’s favourites.
“Stovies, mince and tatties and skirlie and stuff,” he says.
The Blackburn native adds: “Everything’s homemade. And people seem to be loving it. We’ve only been open for just over a week, and it’s been quite busy.
“There’s been great support from the locals as well, which is nice.”
When it comes to recommendations, JP says people have to try his “cracking” mac and black – macaroni cheese with Scottish black pudding.
His steak stovies come with “proper steak pieces”, while special mention goes to the burger and chips with black pudding and homemade peppers.
Not to mention the mac and cheese burger, which comes with an added slice of cheese for good measure.
“Everything is top quality; good-quality butchers meat,” JP explains.
The food truck helps JP keep prices low. A steak burger is £4, mince and tatties £6.50 and the stovies £7.
“It’s quite reasonably priced,” he says.
JP’s quest for the perfect food truck
Starting the business has not been easy.
JP worked 17-hour days in the first week to get everything set up, prepping food early in the morning inside the trailer.
He’d already spent months looking for the perfect food truck, eventually buying a built-to-order Caterpod instead of going the more usual route of picking up a mobile kitchen second-hand.
“We had to go all the way down to England to pick it up,” JP says of the Caterpod, which is a lightweight kitchen on wheels that can be towed by a car. “It was a nine-and-a-half hour journey driving it back up.”
The trip was worth it. The pod has everything JP needs including a combination oven and hot running water.
“We were looking at second-hand ones, but you don’t know how old the equipment is and if it fails you have to replace it. So we thought we may as well just buy everything brand new.”
JP has big plans for his kitchen, including taking the pod to events around the region.
For now, he’s focused on making more Scottish food for his Inverurie customers.
He’s also got his sights set on Burns Night on Wednesday January 25.
“We’re going to do haggis, neeps and tatties for that week,” JP says. “We’re going to have that as a special.”
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