Hayley Wilkes

The family-run restaurant, café, takeaway and pie shop at Barry Downs, near Carnoustie, was forced to close its doors in March when the country went into lockdown. Hayley is delighted to say the company “is not just surviving – but thriving”.

Ms Wilkes said: “I was absolutely surprised and chuffed to bits to win. Wow! Being in an industry that has suffered so much, just staying open and being able to still be here has been reward enough.

“We navigated our way to where we are now and, most important for me, kept our staff and apprentices in jobs throughout. We’ve had a busy, crazy year. We’re still here.”

As well as keeping going by selling takeaway food, WeeCOOK sold its award-winning pies all over Scotland, from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Perth.

Ms Wilkes continued: “2020 was my planned year of growth - despite COVID, with our pies and deliveries we have grown, increased our brand and reputation. I wrote in my business plan three years ago that I wanted to sell pies in Glasgow in 2020. I never imaged it would be under the circumstances that transpired.”

Working in hospitality all her life, Ms Wilkes always dreamed of having her own restaurant, creating jobs and providing a service to the local community. She said she used her last wage before leaving her old job to buy a laptop and business cards and hasn’t looked back.

The WeeCOOK Kitchen restaurant opened at Broughty Golf Club in 2016, followed a year later with the launch of WeeCOOK pies. Last year the business moved to new premises near Carnoustie.

As the overall winner, along with her award, Ms Wilkes also wins gifted airtime to the value of £20,000 from sponsors STV as well as membership of the STV Growth Fund.

Judge Victoria Allison, STV’s creative director, commercial, commented: “STV is delighted to support the Business Women Scotland Awards. It was a pleasure to sit on this year’s judging panel, although selecting the winners was no easy task.

“The standard of applications was exceptional across all categories, and the achievements of the women represented would be inspiring in any given year - but even more so in a year which has been so challenging for businesses everywhere due to the pandemic. Congratulations to all those shortlisted and today’s winners. We are really looking forward to working with Hayley at WeeCOOK on her STV Growth Fund campaign.”

The sixth annual Business Women Scotland Awards went virtual for the first time this year with attendees logging into a private YouTube channel to watch the live event.

Among the winners at this year’s awards were Sarra Bejaoui of SmartPA in Edinburgh, who was awarded Business Woman of the Year; Susie Fraser of Glasgow’s Adeo Group, who won Inspirational Woman of the Year and Claire Murray of Edinburgh-based Emotion Works, who took Social Impact of the Year award.

Entrepreneurs from the fields of engineering, property, food, design and the third sector were winners at the annual awards, which put the achievements of women-led businesses firmly in the spotlight.

Lynne Kennedy MBE, founder of Business Women Scotland, said: “This year we have all faced the challenges of living with a world pandemic and recent statistics have reported that women-led business were impacted more adversely than those of men, seeing their businesses experiencing lower trading volume.

“In this year’s awards we have paid tribute to the incredible achievements of our shortlist of established and rising stars. Every single one of the finalists is an inspiration and a role model - not only to their peers within the sector but also to the next generation who are considering starting a business. We need to encourage now, more than ever, our future generation.”