A family run seaside snack shack has gone viral after its owners became so disrupted by seagulls stealing customer lunches that it introduced “toastie insurance” to protect peace of mind and bottom lines.
Kate Carter-Larg and husband Sam are no strangers to the boisterous birds swooping down on unsuspecting customers and making off with their freshly grilled toasties.
Their Cheesy Toast Shack in St. Andrew, Fife introduced the £1 optional extra with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humour, but it’s also a means of stemming losses after a substantial period of handing over replacement meals after greedy gulls commit grand theft luncheon.
“There’s been so many seagull attacks and it’s been ramping up over the last couple of years,” says owner Kate.
“Our record is 30 attacks in one day so we wanted to come up with something that could protect both the customer and the business.
Kate says she and Sam are quite conscious not to be mistaken for being “anti-seagull”.
“We just want to protect the customer from what they’ve paid financially – we’re certainly not asking anyone to come down here and cull the gulls.”
Unlike your average insurance product, the optional £1 extra charge has proved a huge hit with customers down at the shore.
Salim bought the insurance after his wife told him about how bold the seagulls can be in St Andrews: “It just sounds like a bit of fun and I can never say no to a donation.”
Sarah bought the insurance to support the store but ended up having her crusts snatched away by a winged thief: “it was actually quite scary for a moment there, just to see this big yellow beak pop up out of nowhere… but I still bought the t-shirt to mark the occasion”.
Seagulls have become such a significant part of beach life for the cafe that they rebranded their merchandising last year to incorporate the more threatening gulls, frowning in the centre of the logo taking a drag from a cigarette held by a tattooed wing.
The pair couldn’t believe the overwhelmingly positive reaction to their simple yet effective £1 Toastie insurance.
The couple say it has been such a success that the money raised will now be shared with the community for local good causes, such as the continued sponsorship of two local football teams.
“Today we started offering toastie insurance at 9am,” says Sam, “and by lunchtime there’s already around 150 people have taken us up on it.
“Not one person has claimed back today which means come the end of the year we’ll be able to plough that money back into community projects.”
He says the seagulls have slowly but surely become part of the experience down at the beach.
He explained: “People always talk about it when a theft happens and we’re here to help them have a bit of a laugh and joke about it.”
In the lunch queue, continuing on the lighthearted spirit in which the story has captured people’s imaginations, customers shared their anecdotes of the voracious appetite of St Andrews gulls, lifting muffins, bagels and of course toasties, with reckless abandon.
The gulls may rule the skies above St Andrews, but as long Kate and Sam rule the grill, they won’t see any customer go hungry as a result of these no-good, brazen birds.