Pam Brunton, chef and co-owner of Inver on the shores of Loch Fyne, has spoken candidly about the economics of operating an ambitious restaurant in rural Scotland, and how adding accommodation has helped support the kitchen and its team.
The podcast interview was released as Inver, near Strachur in Argyll, has been put up for sale after more than a decade, with offers over £275,000 invited for the leasehold business.
Brunton and her partner Rob Latimer opened Inver in 2015 and have developed it into one of Scotland’s best-known destination restaurants.
Speaking on The Go To Food Podcast, Brunton said the restaurant had been deliberately built around doing as much as possible itself rather than buying prepared ingredients. The workload goes beyond cooking the dishes served to customers, with the Inver team making cheese, yoghurt, charcuterie, miso, bread and butter: “We make everything.” They also built relationships with suppliers within the local community that has informed their menus.
Their approach requires both skilled staff and considerable time behind the scenes, creating a challenge for a relatively small restaurant operating in a remote part of Scotland.
Brunton said the business had evolved significantly since Inver first opened. Accommodation was subsequently introduced alongside the restaurant, with bothies and shepherd’s huts overlooking Loch Fyne.
Speaking on The Go To Food Podcast, Brunton discussed the amount of work that goes into producing the restaurant’s food and the wider financial pressures facing restaurants trying to operate at that level.
She said: “I think so much of it is hidden. Staff being overworked and underpaid, and therefore labour costs are not being properly factored into business accounts, menus, prices.” She said that practices within fine dining skew things for places like Inver that are “trying to do it right”.
Brunton also criticised the culture that has traditionally surrounded long hours and difficult working conditions in ambitious restaurant kitchens.
She said: “It’s almost as if you have to go through that as some kind of rite of passage or you’ve just not done it.”
The podcast describes the discussion as examining the “brutal economics” of running an ambitious rural restaurant.
For Inver, the business has also evolved significantly since it first opened. Accommodation was developed alongside the restaurant, with six rooms allowing customers to stay beside Loch Fyne after enjoying a meal.
Dinner forms an integral part of an overnight visit, turning Inver’s remote location into part of the attraction.
The restaurant sits beside Lachlan Bay on the eastern shore of Loch Fyne. Its location has also helped define Brunton’s cooking.
Seafood can come from the waters immediately outside, while herbs, flowers, soft fruit and vegetables are supplied by local growers. Wild game comes from surrounding estates and berries and herbs are picked locally.
Brunton’s philosophy has been shaped partly by her experience in some of Europe’s most influential kitchens. After leaving Edinburgh University, she worked on Scotland’s west coast before moving to London, where her career included time at Tom Aikens and The Greenhouse.
She later spent time at Noma in Copenhagen, Fäviken in Sweden and In De Wulf in Belgium before returning to Scotland and establishing Inver with Latimer.
Inver was among the first restaurants in the UK and Ireland to receive a Michelin Green Star when the distinction was introduced in 2021 and has subsequently maintained its reputation as one of Scotland’s leading destination restaurants.
The full interview with Pam Brunton was released on The Go To Food Podcast on Monday 21 September.