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BUSINESS


lArshide Majeed is a sa- les assistant in his aunt's icre cream parlour and tells us about the newest temptation East Kilbride has to offer.


lTell me a bit about Big Sco- ops.


lIt’s a family business and an independent shop owned by my Auntie – Mrs Majeed. We sell ice cream, frozen yohgurt, cookie dough, smoothies,


milkshakes cakes- pretty much everything.


lWhen did you open?


lWe opened in the first week of January in the Murray Squa- re.


lWhat made your family open an ice cream parlour? lWell I used to work at Kebab Kind which is next door to Big Scoops and people always ca- me in and asked if we had any desserts on offer. It’s a new adventure and I’ve always be- en passionate about opening


something like this- and always loved ice cream!


lHow successful have you been since you opened? lWell it’s quite hard to tell be- cause we haven’t been ope- ned for that long. It’s busy but we’ll have to wait and see how it goes. The feedback has be- en very positive. Everyone always tells us how fabulo- us our milkshakes and ice cre- ams are.


lAre you looking for any staff at the moment? lNot right now but we will probably be looking for some- one in the summer.


lHow many flavours of ice cream do you sell? l24 flavours


lWhat is the best seller in the shop? lProbably the raspberry ripple and chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. We can al-


so make a milkshake out of any flavour of ice cream available.


lWhat is your personal favo- urite? lDefinitely the chocola- te fudge brownie ice cre- am! Or maybe the mango and strawberry frozen yoghurt. Or the Oreo cake… too many to choose from.


lAre you planning on cate- ring or doing any events? lNothing is planned yet be- cause we are so new but we would be open to catering or doing a party if someone wanted that. We’re still new and getting our name out the- re. Some people don’t even know we are here yet.


lWhat is it like working at Big Scoops? lIt’s really a great place to work. The staff and customers are really friendly, there’s a good atmosphere and the por- tions are really good.


3 April 2015 www.eastkilbridepost.co.uk


Getting The Inside Scoop A NEW family business at Murray Square, looks to ice the competition.


lWhat do you want to let the people of East Kilbride know about Big Scoops? lWe are in a great central lo- cation in the Murray Square and there is free parking outsi- de. We offer the highest qua- lity ice cream and cater for everyone’s taste. It doesn’t matter if you’re old or young there’s something for everyo- ne! We also offer a healthy op- tion of smoothies too. Tubs of ice cream at Big Scoops start from £1.80 and you can find out more information on their Face- book page.


The 24 flavours of ice cream at Big Scoops: Raspberry ripple, mint, bano- ffee caramel pie, strawberry, peanut, irn bru, honeycomb, cookie dough, coconut, chocolate, toffee fudge, ca- ramel choc chew, choc fudge brow- nie, rainbow surprise, strawberry che- esecake, ferero rocher, kinder, blue bubblegum, pink bubblegum, nutella, tablet, dimebar, vanilla, lemon sorbet, raspberry sorbet.


#LanarkshireHour Twitter Event for Businesses


Are you a business owner in East Kilbride looking to raise awareness about your company? Or if you’re simply looking to get advice from other local businesses then head onto Twitter on a Tuesday Evening and see how #LanarkshireHour can help you. Kirsten Rees, owner of a business called MakeMeASuccess and the creator of #LanarkshireHour told me a bit more about the Twitter event.


Expert Opinion


lCan you explain what #LanarkshireHour is? lIt is a weekly, live and digi- tal event that takes place on Twitter on Tuesday evenings 8-9pm. Instead of taking per- haps a few hours out of your day or evening and travelling to a specific place, people can connect from home, the office, a library or even while out and about.


As a place for local peo- ple and business owners to connect, it is ideal for those who want to network with lo- cal businesses and custo- mers. Those within the group can use it to build their own following, as well as a plat- form to share advice, and find support and potential sales leads.


Kirsten Rees


lWhen did it start? How did you get the idea? l#LanarkshireHour be-


gan in January of this year – it’s been growing and buil- ding a following week on week. When I signed up as self-employed, I got a five minute phone call to regis- ter my business and that was that. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, or where to go for advice and I wasted a lot of time trying out everyth- ing and anything that seemed to offer support.


lHow can it benefit people and businesses in East Kil- bride? lThe Twitter event is de- signed to introduce busine- ss owners to potential cus- tomers, as well as people who are ‘in the same boat’, and offer a sounding board for advice and support. It’s a mix of people who are various stages from start-ups to long- term business owners and a


real mix of industries and ex- perience.


Whether it’s a bricks and mortar business in East Kil- bride or an online one, the #LanarkshireHour group is made up of business owners and local people who may be direct buyers or can sha- re with indirect customers… However, rather than a podi- um to ‘shout your wares’, I’ve tried to make #Lanarkshire- Hour a place for people to help and collaborate with ea- ch other.


From experience I went to lots of real networking events in Lanarkshire and Glasgow and found many did not pro- vide the support I was look- ing for. Essentially, it was a room full of people looking to sell to each other and for tho- se who lacked confidence; it was an intimidating environ- ment, whereas some used it


as a means to push their bu- siness on to others through hard selling tactics.


lWhat do people usually tweet about? lEverything! Some ask for advice for their business, so- metimes general questions or more specific and it’s a gre- at opportunity to hear opini- ons from others who may ha- ve been in the same position, or perhaps just have an outsi- de perspective.


I do invite people to post about any promotions or upcoming events they ha- ve, of course, and to help one another by sharing any leads if they know someone who may benefit from a contact within the group.


lHow can people get in- volved? lIt really is very easy, even


if you are not very technical and once you get the hang of it, it’s the same steps every week!


Log on to your Twitter account just before 8pm on Tuesday evenings and during the live event, whenever you post a comment include #La- narkshireHour and this lets other people in the group see your posts and they can follow you if you are new to the group.


Although #Lanarkshire- Hour is only live for an hour, the group continue to use it throughout the week to ask questions and search for lo- cal information which is gre- at as it is becoming a local community hub and a valua- ble resource! To get involved, tweet: @MakeMeASuccess or comment using #Lanarkshirehour


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