Sandwich shop offering ‘seagull insurance’ due to thieving birds

A sandwich shop in Scotland has started offering customers “seagull insurance” due to “quick” and “vicious” gulls stealing food.

Kate Carter-Larg, co-owner at the Cheesy Toast Shack in St Andrews, said the birds could take food from up to 30 people a day, which was costing the business money in replacement meals.

In turn, the optional insurance will give diners the option of adding a £1 fee to their sandwiches, which cost around £6.75.

“We felt always that when somebody got attacked, we’re just like straight out, let me get you another one on us,” Carter-Larg told Times Radio.

“Or if they came up even to pay for another one, we’d say ‘look you’ve queued for ages, it is insane to have to get another one’ and I just feel awful for people.

“We’re a small family run independent business – if it happened to us, we know that we’d feel a bit rubbish, so we’re just like, have it on us.

“But it’s got to the point now where we came up with this idea of seagull insurance, which is an optional £1 spend on your toastie where you’re guaranteed to get a replacement toastie on us.”

’Quick‘ and ’vicious’

Back in April 2024, the BBC reported that Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) spent of thousands of pounds to combat “dive-bombing” birds scavenging food during their breeding season.

Carter-Larg felt that by introducing this insurance, it can protect both the business and the customer.

“It’s got incredible feedback,” she said.

“There’s a couple of negative people that are saying ‘this is ridiculous, it is your fault if you’re stupid enough to get dive-bombed by a seagull’.

“But it’s not a question of that. You can literally walk away for a second and you’re just attacked. Even if you think you’re looking, they come from behind.

“They are just so quick and they’re vicious.”

She added: “It’s not like some money making scheme, we’re a small business and we’re just thinking [that] if we’re not making a loss by replacing these sandwiches and we’ve got a good profit at the end of the year, we always try and give back to our local comminiuty.”