She changed the bread shelves in your local supermarket
Now allergen free food innovator Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne is bringing her magic ingredient to the Capital’s foodie scene
Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne is no-one’s idea of a procrastinator. Scientist, chef, inventor, entrepreneur, writer, non-executive director – she has more strings to her bow than a convention of violinists. It is fair to say that inability to make decisions is not something which has shaped her life.
But her latest – to take on the role of Chair of an Edinburgh cookery institution which is renowned well beyond the city’s boundaries – surpassed her usual ability to reach an assured and speedy conclusion when she was approached by friend and fellow entrepreneur Paul Atkinson about taking on the role at the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School.
“Paul was surprised when I literally spent about three seconds thinking about it. But it felt so right, ticks so many boxes for me and things I really, really care about. It just felt absolutely right. I have to say I’m not meant to be working seven days a week on it, but I absolutely am and I’m loving every moment of it.”
Paul may have been surprised, but perhaps we shouldn’t be. After all, this is a woman who qualified as a scientist and then decided to cook for a living instead, went on to work in the kitchen of famed Michelin starred restaurant Bibendum; and helped write the equivalent of the bible for training chefs. She also built up a business empire from her kitchen by creating Genius, the nation’s leading gluten-free and dairy-free brand that first came up with the Holy Grail of the ‘free from’ shelves…soft, tasty gluten free bread. She did it initially so that her own family could eat normally and well. Lucinda’s sons suffer from digestive disorders, and struggled to find food they could enjoy. She doesn’t do hanging about.
Serendipity at play
The opportunity Paul, not only an entrepreneur but an investor in businesses, came to her with saw the completion of what Lucinda herself recognises as “rather a lovely story.”
“When I was working as Chair of Scotland Food and Drink, Fiona Burrell, the Principal at Edinburgh New Town Cookery School, got in touch with me. We had kept in contact for many years because she taught me at Leith’s School of Food and Wine when I was 21.
“We’ve kept in touch because we’ve also lived parallel lives: She lived in Chiswick in London and so did I. We both had three children, and we both moved to Edinburgh at pretty similar times - me because my husband is Scottish and he was moving up here for work. Leith’s, where she was Principal of the Leith’s School of Food and Wine, asked her to move here to open a cookery school. That didn’t happen for various reasons but she still wanted it to happen and we ended with the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School.
“She got in touch to say she had been running the School for 16 years, she was Principal at Leith’s before and it is an intense job with long hours, and I think she felt she’d done her bit. She was hoping I might know someone interested in helping her take the school on a journey and allow her to step back. At the time I was really busy with the job as Chair at Scottish Food and Drink and I had to say sorry, I didn’t think it could work.”
There are other serendipitous factors. Fiona was head honcho at the renowned Leith’s School of Food and Wine in London, training chefs to work at a high level. As well as studying under her, Lucinda went on to co-write the Leith’s Techniques Bible, while Fiona also authored several cookery books while at Leith’s.
Big Plans ahead
“So, about a year later from Fiona’s initial approach a friend of hers that I also know, Paul Atkinson of Par Equity, called and they had been having conversations. He was looking to see how he could help her, and I guess my name was mentioned because he got in touch with me. I had by then just finished at Scottish Food and Drink and I was figuring out what to do next. I thought about it literally for three seconds and said ‘Yes.’ “
What made her so sure? “Because I have huge respect for Fiona, I think the school is wonderful, and I suppose because of my background in the food and drink industry. I have been exposed to lots of different parts of it, including time at Scottish Food and Drink, and it became obvious there was a real shortage of skills in Scotland, of chef skills.” She also had learned more about the quality of Scottish producers and had also been exposed to a wider entrepreneurial network within the sector and better understood some of the challenges and opportunities facing the food and drink sector in Scotland.
And not least because she thinks the school, from its Edinburgh base, has a big role to play in helping the sector make progress in the years ahead. Some big plans are already being laid.
“I am not very good at doing things I don’t believe in. At Genius I knew there was a problem and that it needed to be changed, and I really believed in helping Scotland’s Food and Drink. I also believe in the great role the School can play in helping upskill food and drink entrepreneurs, chefs, to bring Scottish food brands alive for people, and to inspire visitors locals to cook great food.”
As well as Lucinda and Paul, Board members include hospitality expert and Chairman of Montpeliers (Edinburgh) Ltd, David Wither; Mark Miller, Co-Founder of Heritage Portfolio, a leading hospitality and catering provider; and Stella Morse FCA, experienced Chair and Non-Executive Director in the Food and Drinks industry.
New outlook, new partnerships
To achieve all that Lucinda and the new Board have in mind, the School will need to break out beyond its physical footprint in Queen Street. In order to do that, new partnerships are already being forged within the sector, work is underway to create new in-situ and digital courses, many streamed live, and positive discussions have been held with the Scottish Government.
One obvious area is working to upskill Scotland’s chefs, and help address the shortage of skilled chefs to work in the sector here. Another is in working with food and drink entrepreneurs in scaling businesses that can grow.
“I really believe we can help entrepreneurs upskill, particularly around scaling their business. I know there are entrepreneurs out there who are making delicious jars of jam to a recipe their granny used to make, they want to take it to market, but turning one jar of jam into a million jars is no mean feat and that is another skill we can help with, and we are looking to work with universities and other partners.”
She is also enthusiastic about the role the school – with is beautiful demonstration and teaching kitchen, dining room and other facilities – can offer Scottish food brands and businesses. “We are putting food into people’s hands. For example, if we are talking about a brand coming here, they are getting the opportunity to show people how they as individuals can cook with what the brand produce, and they have an opportunity to serve it. Brands and producers could work with food journalists and buyers, cooking together and then they can come into our dining room and sit down together and eat a meal, have those important conversations.
“It brings people’s products alive, and I think that’s something we don’t do enough of... how often do you get to taste and feel that product. We can do that here.”
Thought leadership and masterclasses
The Board is also keen to bring thought leadership to the School, with masterclasses and discussions planned. Live streaming and online courses will take the School’s renowned offering far and wide.
Bums on seats is always going to be important, of course, and there are plans to expand the range of courses offered. Bringing international cuisine to local cooks, professional and enthusiastic amateurs, remains a priority, alongside encouraging young people and children to take up cooking.
But there will be a renewed focus on developing business through Edinburgh’s global attraction as a food destination – the city is currently the Good Food Guide’s most exciting food destination for 2025. More partnerships are being forged with the city’s tourist destinations and leading hotels.
“The city is full of tourists, the location of the School is fantastic, why not use that to tell them about the amazing produce that we have. This summer we are doing Scottish baking courses, so tourists can come in and learn how to make scones and cakes and shortbread. We are going to be running whisky and craft beer tastings and pairing it to Scottish food, telling a story. There will be demonstrations of a taste of Scotland – salmon, game, shellfish, cheeses – and we will be working with tour operators going forward about going round regions and meeting producers, seeing what they do, and coming back here and cooking with them. We feel it is our duty to bring Scottish produce alive.”
Cooking for health
Lucinda’s personal interest in cooking for health will be strongly reflected, with her determination that every course should be able to cater for any interested student regardless of any digestive or allergy issues. “We need to be completely inclusive, offering the same fantastic experience to every individual.”
She can also see partnerships being forged with the medical profession and charities. “We could be teaching people who need to change their diet, for example hospitals might send people who have Crohn’s Disease, or people with heart conditions who may need to change their diet, for gut health, for the menopause, for mental health. We are also talking about working with a leading charity on how we could work together.”
The well of support for the school that has manifested has been another source of gratification for Lucinda. “What is amazing is that we have 22 investors and have raised nearly half a million pounds around Edinburgh, from people who really believe in the School and the remit I’ve articulated.”
The enormously well-regarded Fiona Burrell is staying on as Principal until a replacement is found, but there are no plans for her to fade away. She will remain on the Board and will continue to play an important role in taking the school she founded on the next part of its journey.
That journey is only just underway, but what does Lucinda think success will look like? “We want to fill the school, but in a way that it never feels overcrowded, and that every customer who leaves has had a fantastic experience. We want to create a range of online courses because again that takes us beyond the walls. And a nice problem to have would be that we run out of space here for all the people that would like to do courses, and we have to open another purpose-built school, either here or in another city.
“This school will always be the alma mater, no reason why we don’t have other places but people come here to graduate. Wouldn’t that be great.”