Mechelle Clark tells Natasha Mckim about her melt in the mouth way out of redundancy
If you have wandered down Holburn Street recently, you might have been enticed by the smell of delicious toasted cheese.
In a small shop near the junction with Union Street the culprit can be found; Aberdeen’s famous grilled cheese shop, Melt.
Melt was founded by Mechelle Clark in 2016 after she was made redundant twice in the same year from the oil and gas industry, which she had worked in for 10 years.
After attending up to 60 job interviews, the decision was made to create a job if one couldn’t be found, and she took up her passion for cooking full time.
Originally from Portlethen, the 36-year-old has taken entrepreneurship by the horns. Mechelle will be one of the panel members at the exciting Aberdeen Young Professionals (AYP) Ball which also welcomes Claire Jessiman and Mark Kemp as well as Francis Boulle as chairman and host of the ball.
Q. What did you want to be when you grew up Mechelle?
A. Well to be fair I wanted to be a pop star like most kids but there wasn’t a lot of practical thinking behind that one.
Q. What was your job when you were in oil and gas?
A. I worked between recruitment and training and competence roles.
Q. What did you do before that?
A. After finishing university I worked in banking for a few years.
Q. What skills were you trained in?
A. Interview techniques, personnel management and training new staff members.
Q. When were you made redundant?
A. The first time was September 2014, due to the oil and gas downturn.
Q. What kind of job did you look for after redundancy?
A. I continued to look for oil and gas roles.
Q. Why did you find it hard to get another job?
A. The number of applicants for each role, roles being cancelled when they realised they couldn’t afford them.
Q. Was cooking always an interest?
A. Yes, I worked in a kitchen for a few years while at university and ran a small home-based cupcake company which I stopped around 2014.
Q. How long were you thinking about Melt before it was actually created?
A. Not long, I had always wanted to work in the food industry but the idea of Melt really only came about six months before it began.
Q. Did you have any knowledge about owning your own business before Melt?
A. Very little, I had a little experience of taxes involved and environmental health from the home business.
Q. How did you pick the location?
A. I struggled to find anything in Aberdeen but started to check into vacant properties with no signage and phoning the owners to find out if they were willing to rent, and I was lucky to find this one.
Q. Why toasties?
A. It’s the ultimate comfort food, especially in Aberdeen where it’s always cold.
Q. How did you go about funding Melt?
A. Through the Start Up Loans company.
Q. How many staff do you employ?
A. At present five plus myself.
Q. What skills from oil and gas have helped you in running your own business?
A. Social media when looking for staff and advertising roles, staff training and cost reductions and projections.
Q. Did you get any help or expert advice?
A. I had a little from Elevator, some from the Start Up Loans company and a lot from other business owners.
Q. Who has been your most famous customer?
A. Donald Sutherland.
Q. What is your most popular product?
A. Probably The Bruiser, it’s mac and cheese, haggis and smoked bacon in a toastie.
Q. Do you add or change products or the way you run your business regularly?
A. Always, the menu changes every six months, specials change monthly and I change the business all the time as I grow and learn.
Q. What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?
A. Expect your life to be completely consumed by your business, that’s why people tell you to love what you do after all.
Q. What has been your biggest lesson?
A. Have faith in yourself, your ability to cope with things will astound you.
Q. Do you have anything exciting planned for the future?
A. I hope so, we’re hoping to open in Dundee but want to ensure we have the business model right before we do that.
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