Fife business moves into new premises to cope with growing demand for meals

Xen and Sabrina Larg drew on their wealth of experience and expertise in the hospitality and catering industry to start a restaurant quality, heat@home business with meals being ordered online and delivered locally in 2021.

It proved very popular, but capacity and productivity were limited from home, so they launched a search for premises and, earlier this year, the Cafe @Number 16 at the Shore in the seaside town became available. It’s now a base for the duo who provide a selection of their heat@home dishes in a café style menu alongside their already existing, bistro and Mexican restaurant quality food. They also offer outside catering and private chef services.

Xen’s CV includes a stint as head chef with Townhouse Restaurant and St Margaret’s Hotel before he moved to Edinburgh where he opened a number of Mariachi Mexican restaurants and became head chef at the Tijuana Yacht Club.

He then moved into contract catering with Elior UK as head chef for Hibernian Football Club, with additional event support at various stadia sites including Hearts and Murrayfield. He was also head chef at the prestigious Strathallan School before being appointed as head of catering at the five-star Scone Palace both near Perth.

Sabrina is a business development manager at an international law firm experienced in providing a vast array of bespoke services and events.

The couple worked with Business Gateway Fife adviser Karen Cassells.

Sabrina said: “We are very grateful to Karen for all her support. It really helped us focus on the aspects of the business we need to develop. The restaurant model has changed and now people want that quality dining experience at home, at a time that suits them.

“We are so happy to be situated at the Shore in Aberdour and look forward to developing a long and happy relationship with Aberdour’s residents and visitors.”

Karen added: “Sabrina and Xen have shown that their vast experience at the top of the hospitality and catering industry has enabled them to create a unique business model which gives them flexibility in challenging times.”