Meet the Scottish sisters taking the baking world by storm

Success is a piece of cake for the three Reith sisters.

With not a soggy bottom in sight, these sisters are doing it for themselves by rising to the top of the competitive culinary world.

Gillian, Nichola and Linsey Reith are the talented Three Sisters. Their cafe business is booming with a second thriving branch freshly opened.

They’ve also just found themselves sitting scone-by-muffin with the queen of baking Mary Berry, on Amazon’s top baking book list.

And it all came about through inspiration fired in their Bridge of Weir family kitchen.

Their recipe for success is mixing good old-fashioned Scots tradition with a generous dollop of ideas picked up on their global travels.

So just how have the modest threesome come to take the baking world by storm?

It’s hard to keep track with them all chipping in. But in simple terms, big sis Gillian, 34, is front of house. Nichola, 32, is the baking brains with the pastry skills. And Linsey, 29, is the trained chef.

So, where did it all start?

“Playing shops in our garage back home when we were kids,” laughs Linsey. “We’d set up baking stalls and ‘buy’ stuff from each other. Then our mum and dad were raising money for a Blue Peter bring-and-buy sale and by the time we were 10 or 11 we were all baking cakes for that like crazy.”

Their mum Alison, 63, gave up her job as a home economics teacher after Gillian was born and the girls all recall hands-on home cooking becoming their staple diet. Dad Harry, 65, is a surveyor.

“Everything was made from scratch,” remembers Gillian. “I complained about my spag bol one day and I was told I’d know all about it if I had to have a shop-bought one.

“Now I have a young daughter I realise the work that must have gone into doing all that home cooking. But it really sowed the seeds for us.”

Rice crispie cakes, marshallow top hats and trays of tablet made for their granny’s sweet shop were among their earliest creations.

When they grew up Gillian went in to marketing, Nichola worked in pharmaceuticals and Linsey dabbled with admin in an accounting firm.

University days and beyond saw them all travel the world, from Asia, America and Australia to stints as chalet girls in European ski resorts. They picked up a wealth of culinary tips and a love of caf culture.

“When we were catching up back together over a glass of wine in Glasgow we’d talk about what we’d seen and how amazing it would be to do something ourselves,” says Nichola.

“We thought it was a shame we just had Starbucks and Costas and not the lovely independent cafes we’d seen in Melbourne or bakeries in France.

“But it had all been pie in the sky, nothing but a pipe dream until we decided to give it a go ourselves.”

The girls saved hard, working 14-hour weekend shifts in restaurants, before pooling their savings and painstakingly putting together a business plan.

It was a huge risk but the trio gave up their secure jobs to open their first cafe in October 2011. Just as risky was their decision to shun the crowds of Glasgow for sleepy little Quarrier’s Village near Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire. It was set up for orphans by 19th-Century philanthropist William Quarrier, and the cafe is in the original schoolhouse.

“Our kitchen was the school kitchen and over the past 100 years there has always been food here one way or another,” explains Gillian, looking round the hip but homely set-up.

“When we opened we’d just have been happy to have a few people start to discover us. And we thought if we worked really hard for a couple of years we might have a successful business.

“But right from the start, hordes came in. It’s been incredible. We do pop-up events at night, weddings, have weekly mother and toddler and knitting mornings. It’s just become part of people’s lives.

“We’ve had people from England, Ireland and even Australia who’ve come to Scotland on holiday and specifically come here because they’d heard of us.”

Carrot cake, chocolate splodge “one of mum’s recipes with biscuits, raisins and chocolate bashed together and then with more chocolate added” and scones are the three best sellers.

“If you’re a home baking cafe then scones are the barometer you’re judged by,” laughs Nichola. “It seems so simple that a lot of places take it for granted or overlook it. It really annoys me if I go somewhere and get a bad scone.

“We started with mum’s recipe and then tweaked it. We have a fruit scone and then we have a special flavour, like lemon, pear and vanilla or apricot and white chocolate, every day.”

Deli salads, soups and quiches are the savoury homemade fare created fresh daily.

The past month has seen the sisters work every hour to get their second cafe, at Finlaystone Country Estate near Langbank, up and running. And their book, simply called Three Sisters Bake, has hit the bestsellers lists.

“We didn’t even know the Amazon baking charts existed,” giggles Nichola.

“To be in a chart alongside Mary Berry is just ridiculously exciting for me. She’s my baking hero. I baked from her books when I was a kid and I still use them now.”

With Gillian’s daughter Rosie nearly two and Nichola’s daughter Kate almost one, family support has never been more important.

“We’ve got incredibly helpful grandparents,” admits Gillian. “If we didn’t have mum and dad right behind us, I don’t think we could have done this. And my husband Douglas and Nichola’s husband Clive have probably been more hands-on dads than they would otherwise have been. I don’t think they realised when they married us they were also marrying Three Sisters Bake.”

So, a high pressure business, families to look after and being together day in, day out, admit it, there has to be bust-ups behind the scenes. Hasn’t there?

“Honestly, people never believe it but we really do always get on,” insists Linsey. “We learned growing up that you couldn’t have fallouts. We’re so close that if we do have a minor tiff, two minutes later it’s all forgotten and we’re best friends again.”

There are plans for more openings, books and making Three Sisters even more of a major brand.

“We still can’t believe how things have gone,” adds Gillian. “Of course we have worries and when there’s a bad day we think, ‘That’s us, it’s all over’.

“But even on the worst days we’ve never wished we hadn’t started this. You just spend five seconds thinking of that desk you used to sit at and realise you’ve made the right choice.”