The 'genius' business whizz heading the revamp of Edinburgh's esteemed cook school
It’s a new dawn for this popular school
Currently, there are exciting stirrings inside a very familiar building on Queen Street.
Change is afoot, at the building that we knew as Edinburgh’s New Town Cookery School.
After 17 years, as former head Fiona Burrell retires, this space has been taken over by a team including Genius bread creator, Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, and, today, is relaunching and rebranding under a new name, Edinburgh Food & Drink Academy, with a motto to Create, Connect and Elevate. We asked Bruce-Gardyne to tell us more.
Why the name change?
We’re ambitious around the profile that we want to grow globally. Edinburgh has become a gastronomic destination and Scotland is known for its larder. We want the school to cover anything to do with food and drink.
Your links with Fiona Burrell go way back, don’t they?
I studied at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. Fiona was the principal, and she taught me when I was 21 and I had no idea what a rich career was ahead. After Leiths, I went to Bibendum, which was a Michelin star restaurant on Fulham Road in London, then I taught at Leiths. I wrote the Techniques Bible for them, which covers the science of cooking. That was a four-year project, which then led to how to cook for food allergies, because during that time I had my first two children - one is severely allergic to dairy, the other needs gluten free. I couldn't find any decent fresh bread. And the bread recipe that I put in the How to Cook for Food Allergies book then led to Genius bread in 2005. That was the real holy grail at the time, because there was only this dry, gritty bread on the market. So it was a fascinating, intellectually stimulating project.
How will your experience with Genius translate at the school?
I can bring the special diets expertise to the table, but also help entrepreneurs with scaling their recipes to take to market. So if you create a jar of your granny's jam, it's very different to turn that pot into a million pots, if you want to keep the quality, the texture and the flavour. It takes expertise, thought and understanding. Ultimately, we are a cookery school, and our absolute top priority is upskilling aspiring people to go into food, drink and hospitality. I believe that the training I had at Leiths has allowed me to do all of these other things.
What changes have there been so far?
We’ve reduced our professional course from six months to three, to make it more convenient and affordable. We've added a five-day Chef Host Cookery course as well. That’s for, say, school and university leavers, who would like to chef in ski resorts, lodges and yachts. We also continue to do the ‘interest’ courses for curious cooks. That’s just as important to us as providing the professional courses. These days there aren't enough people who know how to cook confidently and healthily. We do lots of events, so companies and organisations use us for team building and client entertainment.
Tell us about the live streaming
We are providing a platform with our new streaming and recording capability. Entrepreneurs can come and promote their products to audiences of buyers, investors, and consumers, so they can also stream cooking and discuss their products. I also feel that we’re a really good platform for influencers, or for authors, who can come and showcase their recipes, or thought leaders to share their work on food security. The Rowett Institute from Aberdeen have showcased the work they're doing with sustainable crops in Africa. What we do here is quite deep. It's not just about getting people ready for kitchens. We have those in the health sector, who want to share their expertise on how to cook after cancer recovery. We have care homes using us to train their chefs on preparing food for the elderly. That's why I'm so excited about this project. We are in the centre of Edinburgh, and food is at the centre of everything.
Tell us about the other interesting people on the team?
When Fiona asked me if I would like to get involved, I felt it was so important to have the best board, if you want to create something that's really dynamic. So we have Paul Atkinson, who has an amazing background in venture capital, recruitment and investing. We also have David Wither, who is the founder of The Montpeliers Group. So he comes with all of that expertise around hospitality and customer service. And we have Mark Miller, who was the founder of Heritage Portfolio. We're really lucky to have our founder, Fiona Burrell, on our board. So although she's retired from daily working, she's still very much a valued member of the team. And we also have Stella Morse, who has been a very experienced chair and CFO. Stella and I work together at Genius. She is the most unbelievably clever lady. And then, of course, we have our wonderful CFO Andrew Duffin; commercial director, Hannah Brodie, and our head teacher Caroline Lamont. She was a chef, hotelier and home economics teacher for a long time. She's basically redesigning and refreshing all of the courses.
How is business going so far?
I've been working on this project since November 24, 2024, and built a business plan with Paul Atkinson, and based on that plan, we organised the board and raised investment. We raised just under half a million, to buy the majority of the business in May 2025. I have literally been working round the clock seven days a week. There's a lot to do to give a company a real boost. And we're beginning to really see that momentum building. We're in double digit growth. We've got the calendar filling up brilliantly. March is set to be the best ever month that the school has ever had. We are so lucky with our team. There are 15, and everyone works so hard. I don't really have to manage people, because they just get on with it. We all really care, and believe in what we're doing.
Any other titbits?
We’ll be using one of the rooms as an Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue. There will also be a monthly ticketed dinner for 24 guests, so we’ve just done one with chef Scott Smith and there’s another coming up on 22 March with the Great British Menu’s Jun Au of Pomelo in Edinburgh.
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