Kirkcaldy High Street: New grocery shop selling organic food and products opens

Planet Organica, based at 65 High Street, opened at the start of the month.

The family business is run by sisters Paulina and Wiktoria Plota, who are originally from Poland.

Paulina and Wiktoria first came to Fife in 2010, when they stayed in Glenrothes, before moving to Kirkcaldy in 2012.

Their new shop not only offers fresh organic products, but it also aims to provide vegan and gluten free items as well as offering a food takeaway service.

Paulina said: “We want our shop to be a place for everyone as we are trying to source vegan and gluten free products as we know there is not a great selection in supermarkets.

"90 per cent of the products we sell are organic apart from our food takeaway, however, when we are making salads/lemonade and baguettes we mainly use organic ingredients.

"We sell hot baguettes, pizza, fresh salads and lemonades which we make in the mornings but the most popular product so far is our bubble tea which is an iced tea with syrup and boba (little balls with juice inside) which children love.

"We also have a selection of sugar free sweets and cookies. All our consumables such as salad bowls, cups etc are made from PLA and are fully compostable.”

Paulina said they had experience of working in a shop when they were growing up: “Our mum had a shop when we lived in Poland. We were always helping her as kids so could see the insight of how to run a business from a very young age.

"My sister Wiktoria was also a shop assistant in a Polish shop and I was a manager at Clothes Collection Scot, a textile recycling business in Perth, before deciding to open our own business.”

She explained why they chose Kirkcaldy for their new venture:

“We thought that the High Street in Kirkcaldy needed something new,” she said.

"We think Kirkcaldy is a bit underrated and if people would open more businesses like ours we could make it busy and full of life again.

"We knew the unit at 65 High Street has been empty since there was a Polish shop in it a few years ago. We thought it was a great spot as it is surrounded by different shops and restaurants.

"We also loved the big front windows which make the unit open for everyone and that what this shop is about – one day I just decided to call the agency, which looks after it, asked about renting it and we got the keys in March.”

On their future plans for the business, Paulina added: “We want to focus on getting the best products we can and maybe search for some more healthy products locally.

"Also, I would love to introduce more healthy drinks as I think that’s what Kirkcaldy needs - our lemonade is a great healthy alternative for cans full of sugar. If the shop does well we would love to open another shop in a different city and have a chain one day.”