A cereal cafe. Belfast identical twins Alan and Gary Keery came up with the idea of selling breakfast cereal after experiencing a morning hangover during a lunch break. They realised there were restaurants devoted to breakfast cereal in America and set up one of their own on Brick Lane, near Shoreditch.
They immediately became poster boys for that whole hipster thing, embroiled with urban angst about gentrification and whether you should Instagram your food (you should).
Other cereal cafes opened. The trend was accused of being a movement, some kind of Millenial Generation statement. But, you know, at the heart of it, people just liked having mind-blowing sugary cereal concoctions any time they wanted.
Now Glasgow has joined the gang with our first cereal cafe on Duke Street.
It’s been greeted with more excitement than social commentary. That’s probably a good thing.
After the initial hype died down we phoned Carolyn Russell to find out what Black Vanilla is really like.
Any scepticism we had soon dissolved into an urgent need to visit this new Glasgow venture.
Carolyn, how did you get involved with Glasgow’s first cereal cafe?
My two friends, Audrey Thompson and Kelly Benn, have set up the business. I’m just standing in for them at the moment while they get up on their feet, I’m actually a full time air hostess.
I was drafted in because the shop opened a bit later than planned due to a situation with the lease. I’m off at the moment so I’m helping until they get someone in full time.
You’ve certainly had a busy start. How has the reaction been?
It’s been far beyond what we’d expected. The reaction has really blown us out of the water. Our Facebook page has had a great response, we’ve over 5000 likes in just over a week and a half.
Every night we have opened so far we’ve had a situation where people are queueing outside the shop, up the road at some point.
The feedback we’ve been getting has been fantastic. We’ve had people sending in selfies with the desserts and the reviews on our page have been excellent.
Your friends, who we’ll pop in and meet at some point soon, did they have a background in restaurants?
No. This is all new to them. Which is why they asked me to do all the fronting because neither of them have much experience of public speaking so they thought that I had the chat being an air hostess.
I’ve actually been friends with them for years. I’m going away on holiday myself this week so the two of them are going to take over the public speaking while I’m not here.
Black Vanilla. It’s not just cereal, you’ve got other things on the menu haven’t you?
The cereal has been really in demand, but probably our speciality shakes have been on the same level.
I don’t know if you can even describe them as a milkshake, they are more of a dessert in a cup.
They have been really busy every single night. We’ve also got hot desserts too, so there are Belgian waffles. We’re also doing a Hong Kong waffle and we don’t think anyone else in Glasgow offers these.
They are a twist on the ordinary waffle, they are a bit lighter and they come out with chocolate chips and ice cream. When they get served there’s a real wow-factor when they are brought out to people so they have been very popular.
Do you think there is a longevity to this kind of thing? You’re obviously tapping into global food trends but in five years are people going to be sitting down and ordering these shakes and bowls of cereal?
I don’t think anyone I talk to has a timescale. I’ve had a sweet tooth since I was very small and I’m 33 and I still have it as much now as I did then.
Obviously it’s a novelty factor at the moment. We’re very new, there’s a hype about at the moment.
I have seen people returning, it’s not just one off customers. We’ve folk coming back two or three times and we’ve only been open ten days. Teenage kids and students particularly are coming back.
I think going forward it won’t be as mad as people queuing up and down the street to come in but it will be a steady footfall coming through the door. That’s what we are hoping for.
Was it a conscious decision to go to Dennistoun, to start in the East End?
Yes, the owners were brought up not that far away from this area. It’s an area they know well. Their family is from around here.
The planning for the shop began when they visited the cereal café in Manchester and then obviously there is the one in London. They’ve visited both.
Initially it was just because they loved the idea of it, they loved the American cereals. Then when they’ve come back they’ve spent 18 months in the planning, thinking where they could open this.
Obviously in the middle of town, you’re talking extortionate high rents. They didn’t want to be running at a loss initially. They looked at a lot of areas, but Dennistoun, when you go along the main road on Duke Street now, there’s so many popular restaurants and it’s a very busy street at night time.
It definitely was a well thought-out idea to have the shop here. There were two or three places they went for but they really weren’t suitable for what they wanted. When this property came up they jumped on it because they thought it was the ideal spot.
I have spoken to quite a few people, like the folk that run the chip shop across from us and the Dennistoun Bar-B-Que Grill and I have seen people visiting a combination of places here, like going for burgers at the Dennistown Bar-B-Que and then coming to us for dessert. Or people getting a takeaway and then coming into us afterwards.
That was one of the original aspects of Argyle Street in Finnieston, I suppose, when they started to get a bit of a scene going. There were a few restaurant businesses that clicked when they moved into the area and it built from there and attracted more and more businesses to that area.
Well, here’s hoping. When I’ve spoken to other business owners they’ve said their business has picked up slightly since we opened so it might be a good thing for the whole area. At the moment we’re very busy so we’re taking on more staff so it’s never a bad thing if you can bring some jobs into the area. It’s all good at the moment, so long may it last.
Tell me about your customers. Everyone looking at the endless coverage of the Shoreditch cereal café in London would expect that a cereal café would only be for people with beards, turning up on unicycles, wearing horn-rimmed spectacles and carrying vinyl records under their arm..
[Laughs] Not at all. I have been really surprised by the clientele coming through the door. The parents have been bringing the children in and they love it. There’s a big appeal to children because the shop is so colourful and eye-popping.
Beyond that we’ve teenagers in every night. Then we had folk in the other day who had travelled from Hyndland, came over after eating in the Grill on the Corner and said they wanted dessert. We’re getting Glasgow folk from all over and they are certainly not hipsters.
It’s a mixed bag of people.
I haven’t seen any unicycles or beards yet, but I’ll keep you posted.
What’s your favourite item on the menu?
At the moment, cereal-wise it’s the Chunky Monkey, chocolate cereal topped with banana and toffee, then you get it with a banana milk.
I’m a bit of a chocolate fiend and I love bananas.
For the shakes, it has to be the candyfloss.
I’m just a big kid at heart, so I love that one.
Glasgow, Glasgow City G31 1DL, UK