Catering Outlets Refurbishment Project: December 2023 – January 2024
Following the award of contract to BaxterStorey for the delivery of our catering onsite, we are about to embark on implementing some exciting new changes across our catering outlets.
First to close after lunch on Friday 8th December will be 1875. We will be setting up a temporary pop-up servery counter at the decking end in 1875 to see you through until 15th January when the all-new 1875 re-opens with its new name, Guthrie's! The pop-up servery will be for all your hot favourites. Salads and baguettes will move to Starbucks and soups to The Nook.
From Saturday 16th December, we will be closing Starbucks. There will be additional grab and go items in The Nook, and Maggie’s will be your go to until the Uni closes for Christmas.
Both 1875 and Starbucks will remain like this until 15th January 2024 when the refurbishment works will be complete.
We will be keeping this page on the website up to date with all the details of refurbishment along with our social media channel qmucampuslife on Instagram or Facebook. We will also shortly be erecting display boards at the outlets with images of how they will each look.
Guthrie's
Will have a fully refurbished service area and three main separate counters modeled on the concept of 'street food'. Each counter will become its own functional space with point of sale and supplementary products, creating a one-stop shop for the customer – one queue, one service point.
Where does the name Guthrie’s come from?
Queen Margaret University was established as the Edinburgh School of Cookery in 1875 (hence the old name of 1875 for a catering outlet!). Christian Guthrie Wright was one of the founders of the school, alongside Louisa Stevenson.
The School was established as a voluntary effort to address two key problems facing society at the time:
(1) To provide educational opportunities for women
2) The need to bring about an improvement in diets, particularly the diets of working class families
Our partnership with BaxterStorey, our catering provider, cements these origins.
BaxterStorey are all about food! They started the first ever Chef Academy in 2007 and now have a Barista Academy and a Service Academy. Just this year they were recognised as the first ever business & industry sector caterer to achieve ‘World Class’ status by Hospitality Assured.
With QMU about to celebrate its 150th Anniversary in 2025, it seemed fitting that our newly refurbished 1875 was renamed Guthrie’s.
Starbucks
Will remain as Starbucks but will become our 24-hour self-service outlet. We will continue to provide excellent high street branded coffee while streamlining the space to offer a complete micromarket experience, creating a Grab & Go offer with the aim of helping to reduce the queues.
