Owner of new Old Kilpatrick café admits loneliness drove her to open

Suzanne Gibson revealed she decided to open new eatery Wonderfully Made because she felt so lonely working from her small kitchen at home making cakes for all hours on end.

And, after finding a unit on Dumbarton Road in the village, Suzanne insisted she missed having anyone to chat with when making her designs.

Suzanne, right, pictured with regulars, from left, Margaret Law, Sharon Wade, Eddie Howie (Image: Colin Mearns)

Suzanne has stopped, for now, making designer cakes and is concentrating on the new shop (Image: Colin Mearns)

Speaking to the Post, she said: “I love working with the public. I love chatting. I missed people.

“I remember I said to my family, I miss people, I miss chatting with people. I missed working with the public.

“I missed just serving people.”

Suzanne added: “Because it’s a lonely place, I’d actually start talking to my characters, my cakes.

“I know that sounds crazy, but I would.

“I would start talking to them and going ‘hi’ when I saw them become real and what I wanted.”

Suzanne had previously worked in banking as an assistant business manager before she found herself working in a friend’s coffee shop with pal Nyrie and her mum Ros nine years ago.

It was there that Suzanne was first introduced to baking, Ros teaching her not only how to make scones and cakes, but also how to present these to the public and to keep a tidy and immaculately clean shop.

“She was an amazing boss, so she was,” Suzanne continued.

“She was so good.

“She was so particular, you know, she was so particular about how cakes would look on the counter, and how the counter would look.

Suzanne says things really changed for her when she was given a Great British Bake Off book by her sister four years ago (Image: Colin Mearns)

Suzanne admits she missed serving and chatting to the public (Image: Colin Mearns)

“And I even say to her now, you taught me so well, you prepared me for a business.

“I never leave my shop without mopping the floors, and cleaning, I continuously clean.

“If a cake doesn’t look right then I won’t sell it and if it doesn’t taste right, it’s not going on the counter.

“I use really nice ingredients and I just like people to have a bit of variety.

“If somebody is going to give you their money, then it is important that you give them something they can say, ‘oh, that was worth it.’”

Despite enjoying her role in the shop, it wasn’t until her sister gave her a Great British Bake-Off book four years ago that Suzanne’s journey to business owner really began to build momentum, quitting her job at the coffee shop to concentrate on making designer cakes on a full-time solo basis from home.

“I did that at home for two years during Covid,” she went on.

“But I found it quite lonely working from home.

“I had like over 40 and 50 baking trays, tools, you name it, every cupboard was full of nooks and crannies for baking.

“So, I just started looking around to see if I could get a unit, so I could do baking and have more work/life balance.

“I hadn’t initially planned what I’m actually doing, I was just looking for a unit for more space.”

Wonderfully Made can be found on Dumbarton Road under the Erskine Bridge (Image: Colin Mearns)

She landed in her current site of Old Kilpatrick, a place she immediately fell in love with and knew she just had to take the plunge and open a shop there.

Suzanne finished: “I drove down to Old Kilpatrick, and I just fell in love with it. I loved it. It was a Sunday morning, and I drove all around, down at subsea, all the way along to the school, and the surrounding areas and I just loved it.

“I thought, oh my goodness, this has got such a nice wee villagy, vibey feeling.”

You can find Suzanne’s new shop at 196 Dumbarton Road where she makes tea, coffee, soup, sandwiches and cakes.