Spotlight on the top Scottish food and drink brands of 2023 (excluding alcohol) from 21-30
21. Nairns
STRATHAVEN-BORN brand Nairn’s proves that, sometimes, you just cant beat on a classic option. Offering a range of oatcakes as well as gluten-free biscuits, the Nairn’s brand finds itself at 21 in Kantar’s top 50 list for this year.
The brand has been baking its oatcakes since 1896, when John and Sarah Nairn first opened their bakery in Lanarkshire. Since then, the brand has gone on to open two new bakery sites in Edinburgh, including its famous Peffermill bakery, which first opened in 1935.
The brand has remained strong throughout the year, with launches including the latest addition to its Gluten-Free Oaties range, with a new Toffee Flavour. Nairn’s most recent innovation has seen it team up with Unilever brand Marmite to create new Marmite & Cheese oatcakes.
Aiming to prove a love it or hate it option for Christmas cheese boards this year, the new Marmite Oatcakes are set to be a permanent addition to the brand’s range with the hope of attracting new consumers to the oatcake category.
22. Tarbert Fine Foods
OFFERING a range of high-quality cooked meats and fish has kept Tarbert Fine Foods afloat in Kantar’s top 50 countdown this year.
Including a range of Scottish cooked meats such as ham, pastrami, roast pork and beef, smoked salmon and trout, as well as a range of luxury ready meals, Tarbert’s line has kept Scottish consumers invested for years now and shows no sign of slowing down in this regard.
Rising five places from 2022’s countdown, Tarbert has clearly been on to a winner this year. Following the implementation of pork processors to Browns Food Group – the firm behind the Tarbert brand – in 2022, the brand has been picking up steam.
The brand also introduced two new ready meal options in December 2022 with its Tarbert Four Cheese Macaroni and its Ham Hough Macaroni.
23. Bliss
HEALTHY snacks brand Bliss has retained its spot at number 23 this year, proving the demand for more permissible treats in 2023.
The firm behind the brand, Lightbody Ventures, launched Bliss in 2019, just four months before the Covid-19 lockdown hit and, since then, has proven the resilience of the brand.
Offering a range of indulgent, healthier snacking options across its range, Bliss bar flavours include salted caramel, caramelised biscuit, banoffee and peanut.
The range also includes different bar variants such as its Caramel Crisp and Indulgent Layers range.
24. Brownings
SCOTTISH consumers keep saying aye to this Killie Pie, as Brownings the Bakers climbs up four places this year.
Known for what the brand calls its most popular product, the makers of award-winning Kilmarnock Pies has been building on its success during 2022.
It was in October last year that the company appointed Fraser Gall, a fourth-generation member of the Brownings family, as sales director. Founded in Ayrshire in 1945, the brand highlights the importance of its heritage with customers.
A Brownings spokesman said: “Being a traditional family baker, we are committed to providing delicious, high-quality baked goods to even more customers while staying true to the values and traditions that have been at the heart of our business for decades.”
25. Mrs Tilly’s
AUTHENTICITY and quality is at the heart of everything confectioner Mrs Tilly’s makes, according to its bosses.
And managing director Blair Paterson claims that’s been the case ever since the first batch of tablet was produced in the family kitchen, when the brand came into existence back in 1997.
This ethos probably goes a long way to explaining why Mrs Tilly’s is so popular – especially with sweet-toothed fans north of the border.
Paterson said: “Our Scottish tablet, fudge and macaroon ranges are firm favourites with Scottish consumers, who have always been extremely supportive of us.”
But despite all its success and growth, Mrs Tilly’s certainly isn’t resting on its laurels.
This year has been very much about investing in its Larbert manufacturing site and capabilities for the future.
The firm has added more than 6,000sq ft on to its factory, with plans to introduce a number of new lines over the next six months that, Paterson says, will really take its sweet-treat portfolio to the next level.
26. Scottish Blend
MADE with consumers from north of the border in mind, Scottish Blend claims its tea is specially created for mixing with our glorious water.
Certified by the Rainforest Alliance and manufactured by Unilever UK, Scottish Blend has kept tea drinkers’ kettles singing out this year, resulting in place number 26 – just over the halfway point in our top 50 Scottish brands list created for this magazine by Kantar.
Scottish Blend has a range of different formats for its black tea, including an 80 Tea Bag Box and 240 Tea Bag Box, as well as a 250g Loose Leaf variant.
27. Buchanan’s
THE Scottish sweet tooth is still prevalent as confectionery brand Buchanan’s remains an important brand for Scotland’s c-stores.
Buchanan’s saw a complete refresh of its brand earlier this year,including a new shape of bag, logo and range of colours, helping to keep the brand uniform but its different variants stay easily identifiable.
And despite the dramatic change in look for the range, the brand still sticks to the classic recipe, so consumers continue to get what they’re looking for from the brand.
Part of the Greenock-based Golden Casket Group, the Buchanan’s brand was first established in 1856 and includes a range of sweet options that consumers still enjoy to this day.
Over 50 lines are included in its range, with sweet options made up of the likes of its Iron Brew Pastilles, Peppermint Creams, Butter Toffee, Vanilla Fudge, Treacle Toffee, Iron Brew Humbugs and plenty more confectionery options for consumers to sink their teeth into, with a variant to suit many different taste buds.
28. Paterson’s
RISING up one place from last year, Paterson’s goes to show that heritage matters when it comes to consumer choice in store.
Boasting a 128-year history under its belt so far, Paterson’s reckons it can offer Scottish consumers different choices depending on the customer demand, whether this be for a personal tea break or for social gatherings.
Now owned by Fox’s Burton’s Companies (FBC), the brand still remains intrinsically linked to its Scottish roots which can be seen across pack designs, with their tartan notes.
Paterson’s most popular products are included in its core range made up of the 300g cartons of Original and Clotted Cream Shortbread Fingers, 10.7million packs of which sold across Britain during the last year.
Speaking on the improvement that the brand has seen in Kantar’s list this year, Colin Taylor, trade marketing director at FBC UK, said: “We feel this is testament to the great value we offer our shoppers and consumers on a weekly basis, whether they are buying biscuits to dunk into tea at home or for gifting and sharing over the Christmas season.”
Paterson’s has kept itself at the forefront across the year, with a presence at the 181st Royal Highland Show on 22-25 June at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh. Further to this, the brand has shown a keen support for charity as the brand raised £3,759 for MacMillan Cancer Support this year.
29. Glenrath
A YEAR of egg shortages has kept demand high for egg farmers with Glenrath seeing the benefit of this by rising an impressive 10 places this year.
First established in 1959 by John and Cathy Campbell, Glenrath Farms continues to produce a range of eggs coming from the Scottish Borders that have remained very popular with Scottish consumers throughout 2023.
Three generations have all worked to develop the firm’s range of eggs and it now offers Free Range, Organic, Barn and Enriched Colony eggs, which are all compliant with various UK and EU assurance schemes including approval from the likes of Lion Quality, the British Retail Consortium and RSPCA Assured.
30. Mackays
REMAINING Scotland’s top choice in jam brands, Mackays has risen one place in Kantar’s list this year and closes out the top 30.
Operating from its factory in Arbroath, Mackays continues to use its traditional methods of bringing fruit and sugar slowly to the boil in copper pans, which the firm said allows the flavours to be released before it gradually sets into preserves.
Mackays sources all its strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants from berry fields in eastern Scotland, while the bitter oranges for its marmalades come from Seville. The brand also includes a range of chutneys and curds, with baking recipes using the range on its website.
