Venison firm’s £3m supermarket tie-up

A Dundee-based wild venison supplier has secured a new supermarket deal, making the partnership worth £3 million per annum.

Highland Game secured the deal with Tesco with a new wild venison fillet product, which will be on the retailing giant’s shelves this week.

Christian Nissen, managing director of Highland Game, said Covid-19 had presented “severe challenges” but said growing demand for venison presented a “significant opportunity” for the business.

He said: “By growing our retail platform, we are diversifying and expanding opportunities for the UK venison supply chain.

“Like almost all sectors, we continue to face the very severe challenge of recovering from the impact Covid-19 has had both on operations and on consumer behaviour.

“During these unprecedented times we will only succeed in our mission to put venison on more plates, in Scotland and around the UK, when we work together as a retail and wholesale sector – that’s good news for consumers and businesses alike.”

The company is the UK’s largest provider of venison and invested more than £150,000 introducing stringent health and safety measures in response to the pandemic.

The firm is a daily supplier to retail giants Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose, as well as manufacturers and distributors to the catering and restaurant trade around the UK and in continental Europe.

Mr Nissen said the current pandemic had almost “completely wiped out” the food service side of the business.

“We know how successful we can be when it comes to selling top quality venison into restaurants and hotel chains.

“We are committed to working with the sector as it recovers and have exciting plans in the pipeline to help grow demand for venison products in the future,” he added.

Consumer demand for venison in the UK is now estimated to be worth £14.4m to the UK grocery retail market.

Christian Nissen, managing director of Dundee-based Highland Game.