Kintyre salmon smoker Archie catches an MBE
A Scottish seafood specialist’s Kintyre expertise has been recognised by him being made a Member of the most excellent order of the British Empire. The citation states: ‘Archibald Robert MacMillan founder, The Kintyre Smokehouse, MacMillan Foods. For services to the Scottish seafood industry.’ Mr MacMillan, from Carradale, East Kintyre, has already been invited to the Palace of Holyroodhouse garden party on Wednesday July 4. During more than half a century in the industry, Mr MacMillan, 72, has moved from working on a fishing boat, ring netting herring, to fine-tuning a computer controlled smoker to create smoked products for worldwide export. Mr MacMillan has six employees, one of whom said: ‘Archie was awarded an MBE for being the best boss.’ He took control of the artisan business in 1988 and has incrementally improved it ever since, eventually buying a £60,000 computer controlled smoker which it took him three months to fine- tune. Mr MacMillan’s life in the seafood business started at the sharp end. Aged 15, in 1961 he went to sea in the Amy Harris with an uncle. Mr MacMillan, who eats fish most days, said: ‘Sometimes in the mid-1960s we were earning between £9 and £11 a week which was a good wage. ‘It was spring 1962 when we started fishing for scallops and the price of a dozen sold to London was 12/6.’ It was a brother of his mother, Mary MacMillan, née Paterson, Archie Paterson, who taught him all he knew, in a decade aboard Harvest Queen. By 1972 some Clyde boats were gearing up for pair trawling, where a net is trawled between two boats. Mr MacMillan, helped with a £12,000 loan from the Highlands and Islands Development Board, bought his own boat, Remembrance, from Finlay Cunningham. For pair trawling Mr MacMillan worked with a partner, James Rennie,
on Monarch and in the 1980s they began exporting scallops to markets, including Belgium, Barcelona and Johannesburg. At the same time as fishing from a boat, Mr MacMillan was learning about smoking products. ‘I used to come to the smokehouse when the weather was too bad to go out on the boat,’ said Mr MacMillan, ‘That is how I learned to smoke fish – such as kippers. ‘It was different days, there were not environmental health officers coming chapping at the door,’ added the man who has a prized certificate from SALSA – Safe and Local Supplier Approval for hot and cold smoking of salmon. Cold smoking of haddock, herring, scallops, mussels and cheese. MacMillan Food’s environmental efforts have also been recognised by the Carbon Trust. That certificate states: ‘Cutting carbon emissions. Recognising achievements of organisations in tackling climate change. ‘Given in recognition and appreciation of your organisation’s effort in the field of carbon management, emission reduction and the mitigation of climate change in 2012.’ Mr MacMillan added: ‘Since I bought the smokery from Donnie Gilchrist we have used every inch of ground and moved into two units opposite.’ At those two MacMillan’s wife Jane has a well equipped kitchen and cold store and creates seafood specialities. The couple like nothing better than driving through the night from Kintyre to attend central belt farmer’s markets. They have a loyal following in Glasgow and Edinburgh and Mr MacMillan says he loves meeting his customers face to face. Locally in Kintyre most of the hotels and guest houses proudly state that they serve Smokehouse products. At the same time his products have gained international recognition. Last month Smokehouse products were chosen for the Eden dinner, at the British embassy in Singapore, during Food and Hotel Asia, the continent’s most comprehensive international food and hospitality event. As news of the MBE award came, Mr MacMillan was also considering a request from a New Zealand firm to stock his products. Mr MacMillan is the first to acknowledge that the firm’s success is a team effort. He said: ‘It is the same in every business, you rely on having great staff or on a fishing boat, a good crew, and everything runs smoothly. ‘One member of staff has just left and we are looking for a trainee to learn all aspects of the business including filleting fish, working the smoking machines and labelling products. ‘I never thought I would get anything like this. I am going to work at this till I drop, what else am I going to do? I am not going to sit in the house.’