ABERDAM Dutch Fries picked up the Start-Up Business of the Year award at this year's Northern Star Business Awards, and were presented the title by sponsors Ledingham Chalmers.
ABERDAM Dutch Fries is an award-winning fast-food takeaway that offers a fusion of high-quality local produce from Aberdeen (ABER) and underrepresented Dutch street food (DAM). They specialise in exclusively imported, triple cooked Dutch fries, sauces, and fried snacks, as well as their now infamous Aberdeen Angus smash burgers and loaded fries.
In April 2021, ABERDAM began as a small fries stall at an outdoor post-CV19 street food event, which they coorganised to give the local street food community a CV19- compliant space to rebuild after the loss of events income from the previous year.
After taking £136k in 4 months at Backyard Beach Collective, they realised they needed to take themselves out of the day-to-day and reimagine the entire concept into a delivery-focused takeaway that could also serve in-house and be franchisable.
With ever-growing demand, the owners of ABERDAM located a derelict bricks and mortar unit in the city centre on Shiprow five months later. They completely pivoted their menu and launched on delivery platforms, as well as serving in four neighbouring wet-led bars. ABERDAM has now become one of the fastest-growing food businesses in the North-east, consistently achieving 18k gross revenue weeks.
In just one year, they have used over 50 local suppliers for their staple menu items, packaging, signage, merchandise, and more. ABERDAM feels a great responsibility to support and promote fellow local businesses as much as possible, as this is key to their ethos. Some of their local food suppliers include Tilly Butcher for all meat, Vegan Bay Baker for buns, Fat Batch for desserts, Angus and Oink for seasonings, Amity Fish Co for fish, Fierce Beer for their collab beer LAGERDAM, and many more.
Managing the incredible demand and rapid growth has been the largest challenge for ABERDAM in the year they’ve been trading. ABERDAM was put together in just two weeks and completely self-funded, with the owners reinvesting everything to grow it into what it has become and will be. They have always looked to the future and never thought small.
At the end of their first financial year, they had a gross revenue of £490k.
The finalists
The other finalists in the category were:
- Devenick Drinks Co
- Raw Culture
- SpringGen Advice
- The Key Health Café
Click here to view the finalists video.
About the sponsor
Ledingham Chalmers are a full-service law firm with offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Stirling and Inverness, they are trusted advisors for individuals, and organisations across a range of sectors that drive the national economy.