Rose & Grants on Glasgow Trongate has become well-known for its vegan square sausage, and with a new owner in place we decided to catch up with them.

One person who has made Rose & Grants their home in recent years is Danielle Watson. Fresh, two days fresh in fact, into the role as owner of the business. It is a role that has been a long time in the making, she started in the cafe’s kitchen before a number of roles led her to becoming owner. She was keen to share what makes the place so special.

She said: “We're 80% vegan. We went in really big from the Commonwealth Games, and we're just an independent cafe. We're not trying to be anything else. We're just serving good food, and we care about the community and we care about vegan square sausage.”

That vegan square sausage has become Rose & Grants calling card - and according to Danielle plays a big role in what makes

She said: “It all started from the manager at the time, Caroline, we all owe a lot to Caroline, and she was vegan, and she just saw a gap in the market for it. From that, it’s become what we're known for, but what we're really known for, we hope, is that we're the place that everyone can go and have breakfast or brunch.

“Your mate's vegan, everyone's vegetarian, the other person has a dietary requirement, and you can all just have a good time, get good food, and it's not like a hassle.”

Situated at Glasgow Cross, Danielle said that the area can have its challenges. However, Rose & Grants, she said, is a place for everyone.

She explained: “Obviously, we have a lot of things happen here. Celtic’s title party, Orange walks, we take it on. We serve everyone. We love everyone. Everyone's allowed to have a good time. And we just want to look after our customers.

“So in those kinds of times, we prepare for it, and that's about it really. Maybe we choose to close a bit earlier on those kinds of days, but I would rather do that for safety reasons sometimes.”

Danielle said: “There are definitely a lot more independent businesses. I think if you speak to a lot of people now, you can see that it's changing. We have more cafes here. And you would think for another independent cafe, we wouldn't want that. But actually, we all offer something different, and the more footfall, the better.

“And we all can. We all support each other. I like to go to Sister Midnight and get a sandwich, and I know I always pop in to Through the House. They do very specialised coffee. I think we all can survive, and we all can lift each other up.”

Having already benefitted from the 2014 Commonwealth Games being held in the city, Danielle is looking forward to the same spirit hopefully being prevalent in Glasgow.

She said: “I say, bring it on. That's how we really became established. I'm still in contact with the old owners, and it was a great time for them. So we hope that it's going to be a great time for us again, especially me as a new business owner.”

Danielle said that she doesn’t anticipate things changing too much under her ownership, with Rose & Grants already offering a whole host of community events in the space.

She said: “If you're on our Instagram, you will see that I've started a book club. You'll see that the space is being used for gigs. Maybe there'll be a few more of these local community events happening. I would just say, watch the Instagram and TikTok. They will be starting to take off soon. We want to really highlight our community and to put into our community, because that's really the reason why we're still open. We did a crowdfunder, and we were able to reopen due to everyone in the Trongate and Merchant City community. So we would love to put it back to them as well.”