263 Days In: Building More Than a Café 🧡

Sometimes I look around Couch of Amber and think about everything I still want to do. The ideas are definitely coming faster than the hours in the day.

Behind the scenes, running this little place means wearing quite a few hats. I open the doors in the morning and close them again at night. Somewhere in between there are customers, coffees, menus, ordering, events, emails, social media, paperwork, cleaning, planning and a hundred little decisions nobody really sees.

I’m incredibly lucky to have my husband’s support, but much of the day-to-day running sits with me. I don’t say that for sympathy - I’m actually really proud of it. Sometimes my vision for Couch of Amber is simply a few steps ahead of what I physically have time to create, and I have to remind myself that building something you truly care about doesn’t happen overnight.

Yesterday, I got one of those little reminders of why I started all of this in the first place.

My dream was never simply to open a café.

I wanted to create somewhere that feels like home.

You’ll hear us say that often - make yourself at home, feel at home, stay a while. But somewhere between invoices, rotas, ordering, planning and everything else that comes with running a business, even I sometimes forget the reason behind it all.

Yesterday I saw our first 3-star review, and I’ll admit, it made me sad. Not because I expect everyone to love everything we do, but because we genuinely want people to tell us if something isn’t right. We check in, we ask how everything was, and we’re always around if something needs changing. I would much rather have the opportunity to make someone’s experience better while they are here.

And then something completely different happened.

A customer came back to return my book carrying the most beautiful flowers from her garden. She came with her dog, who gave me the softest little nose boop on my cheek, and the book she returned was called The Universe Has Your Back book by Gabrielle Bernstein.

I just stood there thinking…

Yes. This is it. This feels like home. 🧡

And when I actually stop and look back, so much has happened already.

We got the keys on 6 November 2025 and opened the doors just 42 days later, on 18 December.

Since then, Couch of Amber has been featured in the newspapers - something I’m still incredibly proud of.

The café itself means even more to me because so much of it was built by my husband’s own hands. When I’m there working long days, surrounded by everything he created, sometimes it genuinely feels like I’m being hugged by him.

Buddy even had his own big moment, playing Toto in The Wizard of Oz here in Banchory, and I honestly couldn’t have been a prouder dog mum. 🐾

We’ve hosted our first whisky tasting, welcomed live music into the café, held our first art exhibition, started book clubs, and now we have a proper monthly events calendar bringing people together.

The menu has already evolved several times, and it will keep evolving. I don’t want to settle simply because something works. I want Couch of Amber to keep getting closer to the place I originally imagined - while also allowing it to grow into something perhaps even better than I first planned.

There is still so much I want to do.

I want to create more.

Learn more.

Improve more.

Support more local people.

Meet more wonderful humans.

And, obviously, meet many more dogs. 🐾

I love growing.

Growing as a person, as a business owner, within my family and within this community.

So if you notice things changing, new ideas appearing, menus evolving or another event suddenly popping up - that’s why.

Couch of Amber is still growing, and so am I.

To everyone who has walked through our door, brought a dog, shared a coffee, joined an event, recommended us to a friend, offered advice, brought flowers, played music, shared their art, or simply sat on the Couch for a while…

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 🧡

We’ve only been open 263 days.

I’m proud of how much we’ve already created - and even more excited about everything still to come.

My only problem?

A day still has just 24 hours. 🧡