A Founder’s Journey From Coffee Shop To Social Enterprise

A shuttered coffee shop, a health scare, and a city centre in flux—Sarah Macmillan threads these turns into a single, generous idea: food as a tool for dignity and connection. We sit down with the founder of Kitchen at 44 to unpack how a home baking hustle became a community interest company shaping Stirling’s social fabric, one shared plate at a time. From Glasgow roots to King Street, Sarah’s path shows what happens when a kitchen is designed not just to cook, but to welcome.

We explore the practical engine behind that welcome. Kitchen at 44 reinvests profits to address the social impacts of food: access, affordability, food waste, and the confidence to cook. During the pandemic, Sarah’s ties to local surplus channels turned vanloads of excellent M&S food away from bins and into fridges, reframing “charity” as a collective save. That momentum evolved into Stirling Community Food, proving how grassroots logistics and neighbour networks can scale. Today, the focus is cohesion in a hard-to-measure city centre where a transient student population often masks need. The Monday community dinners—simple, regular, and open—bring people back to the table, swapping isolation for conversation, and data points for names and faces.

Looking ahead, sustainability means selling accessible “leisure and pleasure” cook classes—think Victoria sponge, scones, roasts—priced for a lovely afternoon out rather than luxury. Those profits circle back to fund community meals and skills sessions, keeping the mission independent and rooted in dignity. Sarah isn’t chasing headlines; she’s building a place people love enough to return to, week after week. If stories of food access, surplus rescue, social enterprise, and grassroots community-building speak to you, this conversation will stay with you long after the last course.

Enjoy the episode? Follow the show, share it with a friend in Stirling or beyond, and leave a quick review so more people can find these community-driven stories.

Transcript

Introducing Sarah And Kitchen At 44

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome back to the Stirling Business Podcast from Studio King Street in the city centre of Stirling. Today we've got an interesting guest with a different um bit of content, really. The community kitchen in the city centre of Stirling. The Kitchen at 44. So Sarah Macmillan, founder of Kitchen at 44. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I'm very well, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Sarah’s Background And Early Career

SPEAKER_01 0:38

So thanks for coming along. Intrigued to uh have the listeners uh hear a little bit more about the Kitchen at 44 um and what that actually is, the community project that you have in the in the heart of Sterling here in King Street. Uh we're in the same uh even in the same street. So um before we uh get into that specifically, uh who is Sarah Macmillan? Uh what's your background and uh you know where where did you come from before you went into this particular venture?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Okay. Um I'm originally from Glasgow. Um I moved through here uh back in in 1998 when I married a man from Sterling. Um my first job was with Prudential, which is uh similar to many people in the area. I started out in St. Vincent Street in Glasgow. Um but after moving through here, I I moved to Scottish Amicable. Um and I worked there until 2008 when my eldest son was at primary school and was coming up for the first uh summer holiday. And um I had no support system in terms of trying to get through eight weeks of summer holiday and childcare. Um so I gave up work. I gave up work at Prudential.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Um so that we could we could focus on a better work-life balance. Um and uh I was a stay-at-home mum for for four or five months before I thought um about starting a small uh kitchen table business um I can bake. Um there was a surge of of soft plays opening up in the area at the time, which kind of aligned with my life at the time. Um, and I started baking cakes, baking cakes in the house um and selling them to local cafes and soft place.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Right. So that's how you I never knew that. So that's how you got started.

From Home Baking To Coffee Shop

SPEAKER_00 2:28

That's how I got started, yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

So that was at the end of 2008. Um, and in 2012, an opportunity came up um at the coffee shop at Cowan's Hospital. Um it came up for rent. Um and I took the leap then of of taking the business out of the house. Um the way Cowens Hospital is set up, we had uh an additional space, an additional room, so the boys could come with me. Um and it it um it let me manage childcare and my own business. Um and between 2012 and 2015, I ran quite a successful coffee shop um in Cowens Hospital all year round. It was especially busy over the summer. Um, the boys would come with me um and uh and yeah, we managed it brilliantly. It was a a an opportunity to to let me expand what I was doing um without giving up the the work-life balance element of spending time with my kids. The primary school is on the hill on the way up uh to Cowens Hospital. I would take the boys to primary uh or sorry take the boys to school in the morning, and then they would walk up at the end of the day and join me at the coffee shop.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Wow, okay. So that was your first venture into starting your own business. Yes. Because way back in what, 2008.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

2008, essentially. It was very small to start with. I mean, we were talking maybe twenty cakes a week, twenty sort of cafe-style cakes. Um but it it you know it it snowballed and it grew.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Um but it sounds like from that point and now, yeah, with the Kitchen 44, which we'll come on to, you did a whole raft of other stuff in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yes as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Yes, so where did that all start to evolve? Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

Coffee Shop Closes And Pivot To Catering

Health Setback And Community Focus

Vision Forms For 44 King Street

SPEAKER_00 4:09

So 2015, um the building um that the Cowan's Trust ran got into financial difficulty um and they had to close. So that was the end of the coffee shop. Um it all happened very quickly. There was five weeks' notice. Um so we decided, when I say we, you know, my sounding board of a husband who is uh and has been phenomenally involved in what I do the the entire duration. Um we we took a unit down at Steppe, we converted it into a commercial kitchen, um, we looked at catering, we had friends at the time who had a small food truck, um, loving food. Um many people in Sterling remember Hervey, the food truck. Um Stoops and Sandra had uh just reached the point where they were starting their own family and the food truck wasn't something that was suitable for for for them and a baby. Um we took over the food truck, um, we ran a small catering company um between 2015 and 2018. Yes, yes, you know, like outdoor events and things. Yes, outdoor events took Hervey to fields, you know, served breakfast burritos in fields. We we we did some phenomenally fun things with Hervey. Um it was absolutely brilliant. Um and then uh I had a bit of a health crisis, I became seriously ill, um, which then curtailed everything back down, um, which was was um it wasn't ideal, but it was something that we could do because it was our business. Um and then as I started to recover, um the boys were then at secondary school, we had a bit more flexibility, I had uh more opportunity to do just exactly what it was that I wanted. Um and uh by that point I'd been living uh up at the top of the town for for over 15 years. I had become involved in the community up there and the community council. Um I'd taken part in a huge consultation in 2016, um, just looking at what the community wanted. Um and and I started to incorporate that into what it was that I was doing. Um my friend Joe Hall, who runs Creative Sterling, um, had started to investigate, you know, expanding her operation. Um and when she started talking to me about renting 44 King Street, um, we started discussions on what food could be incorporated into 44 King Street. And you know, very quickly, my whole vision expanded um in terms of the community aspect of what it was that we were doing. And I picked out things that the community had asked for in 2016 and decided to try to wrap it up into a package and take into 44 King Street. Um and that is essentially how the kitchen at 44 works.

Defining A Community Interest Company

SPEAKER_01 6:56

So social impact is obviously something that you're you know very passionate about. I I can say that and you know I've known you for a while now, and you know, giving back your time and giving back to the community has always been a big, a very big part of Sarah. So I've kind of noticed that over the last few years. Didn't quite appreciate where that had come from, but now that kind of makes complete sense, you know, the 2016 consultation and and and kind of uh you know uh where we are today. So so what is the Kitchen of 44? Uh what what was the vision for it? I think we know a little bit about that from what you've just said. But if you can tell us a little bit about the Kitchen of 44 and what the objective of it is and what you're doing there now.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Okay. So it's a community interest company, which is uh a limited company. It's a company limited by guarantee, but it also has this additional feature to it where we have um we have decided and promised that any profits that are generated will be put back into essentially the social cause that we have defined. Um and we've we've made it quite broad. It's any of the social impacts that are created by the food that we eat. Um so we we we we look at things like food insecurity, we look at access to food, we look at the environmental impact of food, um, access to food, um, just anything that that impacts us by the daily choices that we make or are unable to make when it comes to the food that we that we eat. Um, food is something that we're all impacted by in some way or another. Um, and it's also something that can be used as a tool to help address other issues within the community. Um we do know we've got quite a broad remit. Um that's where we are right now, is we're we're looking at ways in which we can we can progress things, improve things, move things forward for our very local community at this moment in time, but the broader Stirlingshire community.

Research, Funding And Partnerships

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Aaron Ross Powell So would you say a lot of what you do is is research-based in terms of how the impact of food can can have on different kinds of demographics and families and things like that? So a lot of it's kind of internally kind of research-based, is it? Aaron Powell Yes, yes. And then you have the external kind of facing side of of the project, if you like, as well.

Launching During The Pandemic

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Aaron Powell Very much so. Do you know there there's a huge amount of research on on all aspects of food and food policy. Um and nothing that we do is is is random, to know, based on on how we're feeling in the morning. Um a lot of what we're doing right now is funded. Um and if you're applying for for for funding um through a grant-giving organization or or public money, do you know what you're what you're doing has to be it has to be sensible and it has to be grounded in a defined need. Um so yeah, we do we do look at research. Um we do work with other organizations who who um have the expertise to to start to define agendas. Um so yes, very much so. There is research behind most of what we do, if at all.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

So how long have you been open for business, if you like, and kind of how is it going in the early days?

Surplus Food And Community Distribution

SPEAKER_00 10:10

We initially opened in 2020 to meet a very urgent need during the pandemic. Um we we had a space um that was controlled entirely by us, which was an unusual set of circumstances to be in in in the pandemic. Um there was an awful lot of uncertainty and there was an awful lot of fear, and very rightly local authorities across the country shut things down. So services um closed. Um, and I'm not meaning that in as a criticism in any way whatsoever. It was absolutely the right thing to do. But what we had was a space and we had the autonomy to make the decisions. Um so we we looked at um what was quite an urgent early need in March 2020, sorry, March 2020. The community in which I live, um, a lot of the people that we spoke to on a daily basis were employed in the hospitality industry. It's quite a normal thing to to to exist in a in a you know sort of central urban area. Um and in the the the the second and the third week of March, hospitality industries got some very vague advice from from the government. Do you know we were advised not to go out, but the the the businesses were advised to stay open. And do you know we we my husband and I called into a local pub um the week before the first lockdown, and we were the only people there for the year. Sounds like all of stuff for the entire duration. Do you know there were three staff and and and the two of us, people stopped going out. Um and businesses uh do you know had every right to feel an uncertainty and a fear. Um hotel bookings in the area closed down some of the larger hotels, made redundancies before the furlough scheme had been announced. So we could speak to people locally, um, and we we we saw that there was a fear, that there was uh uh a panic. Um people were uncertain as to how they were actually going to survive, how they were gonna pay the bills, how long was this gonna last? The the uncertainty was was was everywhere. Um and and through organizations that I had been working with up until that point, I knew I could access surplus food. Um surplus food is quite a well-known phenomenon now. It was less so in 2020.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

And um, do you mean surplus instead of a going to waste as in the exactly that, yes. Okay.

Growth Into Stirling Community Food

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Um so I had uh an organization that I had been doing some work with had sent me through an email and it was um a request from Marks and Spencer's. Marks and Spencer's in both Sterling and Dunblane at that point didn't have a source for their surplus food. They were throwing out um, do you know, sometimes uh uh extraordinary quality food in extraordinary quantities, and they were looking for organizations to take this food and put it to use. Um so on the the Saturday before the first lockdown had been announced, it was announced on the Tuesday. Um on the Saturday, I wandered down to Marts and Spencer's in Sterling and I said, look, rather than throw this food out, I can take it. Um I uh uh wheeled it on a wee trolley uh from Marts and Spencer's up to 44 King Street. Um and I I just started sending out messages. We put a post on Facebook, I sent out messages to people that I know in the community, um, and I said, Look, I have this gorgeous Marts and Spencer's food. Um it's perfect condition. Um we could have bought it an hour ago. Um I have it if you want to come and collect it. If you can use it, you can have it. Um and we got you know a a great turnout the first night. The second night, not so much. Um do you know, people um did you cook any of it or was it all No, no, no, no. We just handed it off exactly as it as it as it was. We collected it in insulated boxes, so people got it sort of still chilled, perfectly safe. Um the second night, do you know, a sort of a sense of embarrassment started to creep in. Do you know? People don't want to have to rely on the food bank and people don't really want to have to admit to using that facility. Yeah, yeah. Um Alistair and I, do you know what we ended up putting the the food in the car, we went up and we knocked on doors. Um but again we we got rid of all of this food the second time.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Is there any reason why Marks and Spencer didn't do something like that themselves or did that they just not I think it's a resource issue, do you know?

Monday Community Dinners Take Shape

SPEAKER_00 14:39

And do you know a lot of um success of projects in communities is because it's run by people from the communities who know the communities, do you know? And and by 2020, um I had been here for 22 years. Um I I I know people, I'd I'd I'd sat on community councils with people in the community. Um the coffee shop had been in the community. Do you know? I d I had a network of people. Um and if I didn't know people who could benefit specifically myself, I knew someone who knew them. Um and and that was the the the sort of the ripple effect that uh that got um essentially the the the the project up and running. And within a week, lockdown had been announced. Um people had rules in which they could go shopping, and Marks and Spencer's um specifically, um, it wasn't a whole shop store. Um so they very quickly found that their customer base dried up as people went to Tesco's or Sainsbury's or Morrison's where they could buy their do you know their toothpaste, their toilet roll, if you could find toilet roll. Um so within a very short space of time, we were filling a transit van full of Marts and Spencer's food to the brim and then taking that van back down to get a second load. And when we started posting these massive um hauls of food from Marts and Spencer's on Facebook, um, it became more about actually the community needs to help save this food as opposed to we as an organization were trying to save anyone or anything. Um, do you know? And and and the the reach of that project um grew really fast. Um and the project um it ran for four years. I'd I I worked with Transition Sterling. Um we when the the shop um front that we were using at 44 King Street was needed back for Maiden Sterling. A local businessman gave us a shop uh to continue the project. Um I took a step back after a year because uh that wasn't the nature of what I actually wanted to do. I wanted to get in there and get my kitchen up and running. Um but Sterling Community Food was the the result of that was the name of its community.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Sterling Community Food.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

And it ran until December 2024.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

That's a fabulous story. And you can now see where the community connection comes pretty pretty strongly in that. Okay, so we roll back well, forward to the current days. So the kitchen of 44, um your famous Monday nights, um, your community uh dinners on uh talk to us a little bit about that. Um I can testify they are absolutely fantastic, and the quality of the food the food is amazing. So um how did that come about, the community dinners on Monday nights?

A Transient City Centre And Data Gaps

SPEAKER_00 17:26

So that was that was funding that we um applied for um in conjunction with Creative Sterling. Um it was the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was administered by Stirling Council. Um it it you know it's not a huge amount of money. We got um under£7,000 for for six months uh to run the project. Um but at the time when we applied for the funding, um our community here in the top of the town was in a bit of a slump. I I say the top of the town, it's the market crossing city centre, it covers the whole of the bottom of the city centre. Um it's a strange community. There's there's three and a half thousand people roughly uh live within the area. Um but at any one time almost half of those can be students. Um and they're transient. Some of them are here for just simply nine months for the academic year, some of them are here for two or three years as they rent somewhere and they stay for the majority of their degree. But they are a transient population. Um and the permanent residents and the students um, you know, they often at times have very different priorities, um, and it makes it difficult to actually measure. We talked earlier about how things are are based on evidence. Um, it makes it difficult to measure the the normal statistics that you would look for within a population if you're trying to identify um highlights or problems. Um so this transient population um it means that that that there are issues within our area that can sometimes get missed. Do you know areas of of deprivation, of poverty, they're they're they're minimized because these transient students they skew the statistics.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

And a lot of them live in the city centre or on the periphery.

Building Cohesion Through Weekly Meals

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Yes. Um there's a lot of issues within um our local community that we're aware of, but statistically um we fall short in order to actually have regular assistance. And it makes actually targeting these um communities or pockets of of people, it makes it difficult. Um so the the community um sometimes has a sense of cohesion, and then at other times that all falls away. And in um the second half of last year, we were definitely in a slump. Um so when we applied for that funding, what we said we would do is just simply try to work on a bit of community spirit, that we would build a regular once-a-week um coming together of people. So we didn't really set an agenda um for the community meals.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Or a target demographic, it was pretty open.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

But it's we need anybody that lives in the geographical area, yes. Um really what we wanted to do was to pull people in and to to know just to get people out involved in something. Um and that was the hope that would start some conversations. Um and yes, do you know we started off slow and the first night we got nine people turn up. Now we have uh regularly we've got more than 30. There are do you know somewhere between um 40 and 50 individuals who've who've who drop in and out um on a weekly basis. And we do, we we've got conversations starting. Um I mean we don't drive them, it's it's not really sort of the ambition of that project to start to to look at agendas or improvements, or we just just want to create the opportunity and the space. But do you know sort of change is is is starting to be talked about.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Um Yeah, and I I've noticed the because I've been a couple of times to uh to check things out, and I've noticed the the the conversation and some of the kind of friendships and and what have you are developing, so much so that you know there's some people basically you know come and make it that that kind of regular kind of meeting point on a Monday night. Yes. They get the dominoes out, they have a have a you know, game of dominoes together, and they'll maybe you know have it have a have a drink at the end of it somewhere before they toggle off home. So it's a fantastic, uh fantastic initiative. So okay, so you were talking about the the current project being funded. Yep. Uh you've got funding for that and a big part of the Monday night, uh community dinners as part of that. Um obviously that's not sustainable uh you know, longer term. So what are the plans from a funding perspective going forward and how can the Sterling community help in any way with regards to?

Sustainability And Paid Classes Plan

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Our ultimate goal is to try to be self-uh-sufficient. Do you know we have this beautiful space and it is beautiful. And part of the reason that it's taken so long to get to this point is because we were very insistent that we wanted a space, we wanted to build a space that people wanted to spend time in. A lot of kitchens are very utilitarian and they're not user-friendly. We wanted it to be, you know, sort of somewhere that people enjoy. We're looking at introducing very, very soon a program of leisure and pleasure classes that we're looking to sell. And we want to sell them at a price, do you know, I mean, not ridiculously expensive. There are some some sort of cook schools where yes, second mortgages may be required. We're not looking at that. We're looking at lovely afternoon out kind of price testing.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Perfect proximity to our hotel.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Some of our guests would love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

So we're looking to sell classes. Do you know, just classes for fun. Um you can come and learn how to make a Victoria sponge, learn how to make a scone, come learn how to make a roast to a roast dinner.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

What about haggis?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Haggis.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

The Americans might like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

They might lap that up. Yeah. There is a haggis experience out in Blair Drummond. We might talk to them. I I I um I have it on my list of things, do you know, potentially. Um but yes, we're looking at a range of classes that we could sell for profit, and we would we we would be able to use those profits to to run things for the benefit of our community.

Hopes, Legacy And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Brilliant. Okay. Um I think we've kind of covered most of the uh the points that um that I had on my list in terms of uh you know, kind of some of the specifics with regards to the kitchen and you know how how it evolved and where it came from. Um and we've talked a little bit about kind of objectives going forward. So if you put yourself in in that seat in three years from now, where would you like to and you look back and there was a headline that you could see on the Sterling Observer Fun page, what would it say? What would you like what would you like your legacy to be over the next few years from the kitchen?

SPEAKER_00 24:15

I think I think sort of achieving self-sufficiency and driving our own set of circumstances that would be sort of driven by by what the community asked for would be the ultimate goal. Um we we um We're not looking to try to save or to change anything ourselves. We just want to create the opportunity for these things to evolve and happen naturally as as as people want them to happen. So to be honest with you, I'm not looking for a big headline. Do you know we don't we we we don't want um to to to create something that makes the news. We want to create something that the community loves.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

That's that's nice. That's a very nice, humble way of saying what you've just said there. So Sarah, you're a inspiration. Um you've always been an inspiration to me though, but I've to I'll tell you that regularly. But um, that's just because I got up early in the morning. Yeah, you get up early and you come to do podcasts early in the morning. And you come to serve our guests beautiful breakfasts as well. Um so um where can they find more information out about the kitchen at 44?

SPEAKER_00 25:28

So uh do you know I'm a um middle-aged, not particularly take-savvy individual. Facebook is my my default. Um, I do have ambitions and plans to just get a bit better. To get a bit better. Yeah, it's on the list. It's on the list. But it's not easy, is it?

SPEAKER_01 25:48

So you have a Facebook page.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

We've got a Facebook page. We have an Instagram page. Um and at the minute that that's the the the main.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

And is it the kitchen at 44?

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Is that the I think they no, I don't think. I do know that Facebook page is the Kitchen at 44 King Street.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Um Instagram, just to confuse everyone, is the Kitchen at 44.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Fantastic. Okay, well, thank you for coming along, Sarah. Brilliant story. Um you're doing wonders for the Sterling community. So you know, as as a business in Sterling, we uh you know I certainly appreciate it, and I'm sure a lot of uh other local businesses and and local residents do as well. So thank you for what you do, and uh we'll speak to you again soon.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Brilliant. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Thank you again for joining the Sterling Business Podcast. Uh fantastic guest this week with Sarah McMillan, the founder of the Kitchen at 44. Uh, great testament to what she's doing for the local community here in Sterling and supporting the uh you know the kind of food initiatives that uh you know that in a lot of cases we don't fully understand and and and um acknowledge. So thank you, Sarah. So until uh next time, thank you very much for joining the Sterling Business Podcast.