Consumers have an appetite for the authentic
Scotland has ambitious targets for its food and drink sector and innovative small businesses can help it get there, David Lee reports
Consumers are much more wiling to engage with small, authentic food and drink businesses close to home – and 2017 is a great time for innovators to create new enterprises and get investors to back them.
Ben Thomson, of Inverleith, which has backed a number of food and drink businesses, told The Scotsman’s annual food and drink conference: “There are real opportunities for small businesses - they have passion, energy and enthusiasm, which drives product innovation. Large companies spend less than 2 per cent [of turnover] on research and development but that’s the absolute DNA of small companies.”
Thomson said 90 of the top 100 brands in the United States were losing market share and added: “If you have a great idea or a great product, small companies can really take off.
“The consumer market is changing radically; people want to buy from smaller companies [closer to home] with a story, with heritage. It’s a really good environment to go out and do it.”
The role of investors was not just about funding, said Thomson: “It’s about having a great product and getting it to the right distribution networks, and about managing your brand, creating a premium product and how you internationalise. Funding is a way of helping companies on that journey.”
The conference heard from three Scottish-based female entrepreneurs; Anna Christopherson runs six Swedish bars in Edinburgh, Jo Stewart, co-founded Stewart Brewing in Loanhead, Midlothian and Jane Shandley launched iq Chocolate.
Christopherson described how she overcame patronising attitudes (“You seem sweet, but this is not going to work, lassie”) to open bars designed to be the friendliest places to meet.
She had now moved on from “cheeky banter” in her original Boda Bar in Leith to managing 97 staff.
Christopherson has a strong focus on sustainability: “The most important thing about your business is financial sustainability – without it you will not survive or protect jobs – but I’m passionate about environmental sustainability and inspiring our guests to be greener.”
The Swedish bars have introduced a plastic bottle recycling scheme, where you hand in a bottle and get money off a coffee.
Christopherson has also declared war on straws to save money and reduce waste, and wants to reduce food waste drastically.
“Scotland wastes 1.35 million tonnes of food every year; it’s a lot of effort to produce it and it makes up 20 per cent of Scotland’s carbon footprint.
“Plate waste is 90 per cent of our food waste so we are looking at things like portion sizes and takeaway boxes.”
Jo Stewart said she and her husband Steve had always dreamed of running a brewery and had core principles which drove them forward; to produce the highestquality beer, provide exceptional service to customers and have fun along the way.
“You need to know your market and be prepared; the market was ready for some locally-products premium beer products. But we still had to walk the streets and knock on many, many doors.
“We kept our prices at a premium because of the quality of the products and many pubs were really receptive. They liked the products and bought them again.”
Those products, including Radical Road, Pentland IPA and First World Problems, have taken Stewart Brewing’s turnover to almost £2 million, in an increasingly crowded and competitive craft beer market.
Stewart said she thought the business had continued to do well because it refused to compromise on quality and had engaged directly with consumers to build a fan base.
Innovation was all about keeping moving and trying out new things, said Stewart. “We always have something new coming out, including several collaborations with other breweries.”
She described a 2014-15 rebrand, which removed the saltire for a “more progressive, contemporary