Running the cafe of her dreams has always been Nikki Leys’ biggest ambition. Now, her dream has come true.
The Liberty Kitchen is housed inside the state-of-the-art Greyhope Bay Centre at Torry Battery.
It’s completely off-grid, running from solar power and collecting rainwater to sterilise and use in its hot drinks.
Bakes and cakes sourced locally are the cafe’s core offerings, with 80% of its selection being vegan-friendly down to Nikki’s passion for health and nutrition.
But above all, what’s most impressive about Nikki’s journey is her ability to turn pain into positivity from some of the hardships she’s faced in recent years.
Bouncing back
“I grew up in Aberdeen, studied at Gray’s School of Art and have loved travelling around the world since I was 17-years-old,” says Nikki.
“When I came back to Aberdeen after living in Australia for a year, I was very lucky to be offered a job in the oil industry, which I worked in for seven years.
“Afterwards, I left to go to the US with my husband at the time and spent three and a half years in Houston, Texas.”
Nikki was a stay-at-home mum to her son, Oliver, and newly born daughter, Liberty, whilst living in the US.
However, when her marriage “fell to pieces”, times became tough for Nikki.
“It was a lot to deal with. I could’ve fallen to pieces, and I probably did for a while,” she says.
“I realised that I would be moving back home to Aberdeen with my two children and basically starting over again.
“But I looked at it like a reset, figuring out what I actually wanted from life and how I could go about creating the life that I would really like to lead.”
Passion for nutrition
Re-evaluating her life whilst dealing with divorce was an arduous task for Nikki.
But it was a newfound passion she’d picked up whilst living in America that would offer her a guiding light towards a completely new career path.
“Being a stay-at-home mum allowed me to get creative again, but I also developed a real passion for food and nutrition.
“In the US, there’s a lot of things that go into food that are actually banned in this country.
“I saw that food truck culture was a big thing, but all of the food was very much on the unhealthy side.
“It made me think, ‘what if this could be done a little differently?’”
The Liberty Kitchen
Nikki took her first steps in the north-east food scene by running The Liberty Kitchen from her own food truck back in January 2018.
She exploited a gap in the market with her coffees and healthy, vegan food offerings, which attracted customers far and wide.
However, to achieve her long-held dream of running her own cafe, Nikki set herself a goal of moving into a premises within five years.
With the help of Fiona McIntyre, the brainchild behind the Greyhope Bay Centre, Nikki achieved her goal with time to spare.
“After chatting to Fiona at a TechFest event in Aberdeen last year, we realised that the green ethoses for our projects aligned really well,” Nikki explains.
“We kept in touch, discussed the equipment that would be needed for a café setup and I felt lucky to be included in conversations before Greyhope Bay was even built.
“Since it opened in April this year, it has just been incredible.”
Local food and drink
The best way to soak in the stunning views offered at Greyhope Bay is with a hot drink and scrumptious bake specially selected from The Liberty Kitchen’s menu.
Nikki and her team of five staff offer a wholesome collection of locally sourced bakes, cakes and hot drinks, with the view to offering more hot dishes in the near future.
“All of our bakers are local,” says Nikki.
“We have Sourcloud Bakes who supply delicious cruffins, we have Vegan Bay Baker, The Bread Guy in Torry, and lovely vegan and gluten-free from Celebration Cake Shop.
“Everything comes in fresh and I’d say that 80% of our offerings are vegan-friendly.”
Autumnal drinks are also making their mark with customers.
“Our coffee is sourced from Sacred Grounds Coffee Co, based in Arbroath,” says Nikki.
“They have a similar ethos to ours using things like compostable packaging and working with small farms, including womens’ co-operatives.
“Our turmeric lattes are very popular and we’re just coming into the season where we’ll be offering our speciality hot chocolates as well.
“One of our favourites is our rose water and cardamom hot chocolate. Another is our mint hot chocolates. They’re both very popular.
“We use natural flavourings too and like to keep things as simple as possible.”
North-east’s most self-sufficient cafe?
Nikki was used to being self-sufficient whilst operating from her food truck. But with her café at Greyhope Bay, this has been taken to a new level.
“It’s actually not too dissimilar to the truck in a lot of ways!” Nikki laughs.
“We’re completely off-grid and work off of solar power. We have a rainwater collection system which collects rainwater, treats it through advanced technology with ozone and UV light and sterilises the water so we can use it in our coffee.
“We’re hoping to have a solar power upgrade by next year, which will allow us to expand the offerings on our menu and maybe even recruit more staff as well.”
‘Cafe of my dreams’
Building up The Liberty Kitchen from a food truck setup to her dream café has been a huge achievement for Nikki.
She believes that she’s used negative energy in her life to bring about something positive and is now attaining another of her dreams by recently enrolling on an open-learning university course in food nutrition.
Success stories don’t come much better than Nikki’s.
“I think when you go through a really big life event, it makes you realise what’s really important,” says Nikki.
“I like to keep busy, I try really hard and I just couldn’t have imagined how amazing this would all be.
“My team of staff are just the best, I really love meeting people too.
“It is the cafe of my dreams.”
A round of questions with Nikki Leys of The Liberty Kitchen…
Favourite type of coffee?
It’s definitely an oat flat white for me.
If you were a drink, what would you be and why?
Hmm… I’ll go with a kombucha because it’s interesting, a little bit different and it has a bit of sparkle, which I like to think I have about myself!
Best tea and biscuit pairing?
An Earl Grey tea and a good, old-fashioned shortbread.
Favourite vegan bake?
A vegan Victoria sponge from the Vegan Bay Baker.
Any secret tips of the catering trade?
Every day is a school day, really. But just keep smiling. Make sure that people have a lovely experience.
If you were stuck on a desert island, what three drinks would be there with you?
Coffee, sparkling water and some kombucha.
You have to serve your favourite superhero or celebrity a drink. Who is it and what do you serve them?
It would definitely be Matthew McConaughey. I’d serve him one of our special rose water hot chocolates.
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