Skye chef pledges health before wealth at 'pay what you can' cafe

A chef on Skye is pledging to put the health and wellbeing of the island community ahead of profits by launching a new "pay what you can" whole food cafe.

Islander John Coghill and his team are aiming to provide healthy, wholesome and affordable meals at Araich, which is in an old woollen mill in Portree.

The community interest company launched the cafe in late September by providing free lunches to more than 90 school pupils at Portree High School.

Its doors opened to the wider community in October and in the future it is also hoped there can be a wholefood shop in the building.

Coghill's family owned and ran Skye's Sligachan Hotel for more than 100 years.

His own culinary journey has taken him to Harris, Aviemore, Chamonix, and back to Skye where worked at The Three Chimneys restaurant before setting up his own health food truck in 2022.

Coghill said his experience with the truck, as well as becoming a father, had been the catalyst for his new healthy eating venture.

The idea behind Araich, which means nurture in Gaelic, is to have a limited menu with several healthy food options which are prepared in large quantities to keep costs as low as possible.

Coghill said there was no obligation to pay at Araich but they would ask for a contribution.

He said: "That could be a smile, a thank you, an offer of a little help in the kitchen, or painting walls."

However, he hoped enough people who were financially able to would pay for meals to make the venture sustainable.

Coghill added: "We are a community interest company, which means that every single penny of profit we make goes back into the community."