Building for the future

HAVING jumped a place from number eight to seventh in our Top 50 Scottish take-home brands last year, Stirlingshire-based Graham’s The Family Dairy has...
THE institution of the Burns Supper, now an annual celebration of the works of Scotland’s – and one of the world’s – great poets, Robert Burns, began in the very early 19th century. In 1801 some chums who were great admirers of the recently departed Rabbie, and who were also pretty fond of a dram, met on the fifth anniversary of the great writer’s death to wine, dine, toast his memory and recite some of his works. The following year the celebration moved to the date of the bard’s birthday 25 January and the rest as they say is history. The Burns Supper habit spread across Scotland. Within a few years a Burns Supper was being held in Oxford University. Today they are held all over the world. These days formal suppers can be quite posh with a multi-course dinner, a piper, a toast to the immortal memory of our great literary hero, a cheeky toast to the lassies, an even cheekier reply from the lassies, an address to the haggis and a recitation of Burns’ great narrative poem Tam o’Shanter. Other celebrations in homes and elsewhere are often much simpler. But virtually all will include two items that retailers can highlight in Burns season each year ... haggis and whisky. It’s sad that, because of marketing restrictions on alcohol products in Scottish off-trade outlets, it’s effectively impossible to cross-promote the two Burns Supper essentials or even to place them together in a display. But that’s all the more reason to promote them individually. Try highlighting haggis in your meat chiller, carry a few different sizes to suit the variety of sizes of households, use point-of-sale material to remind shoppers of Burns Night and the part that haggis plays in the celebrations. And you could make January a special malts month or simply arrange to focus on whisky generally in your drinks area. If you have a whisky deal that’s giving you a good margin highlight it within your drinks section. And creating a Burns theme in store, with tartan and maybe even pictures of the man himself, will help get the message across.

Power of the Bard

THE institution of the Burns Supper, now an annual celebration of the works of Scotland’s – and one of the world’s – great poets,...
RVM Systems

RVM firm teams up with SGF

REVERSE vending machine firm RVM Systems Ltd has joined the Scottish Grocers’ Federation – as Scotland’s c-store retailers prepare for the rollout of DRS in Scotland next year.
Cadbury

Chocolate giant spreads change

CADBURY became Fairtrade on a number of Cadbury Dairy Milk products in Britain in September 2009. And since then the Fairtrade mark has been added...

Make the most of vegan deals

Creating a display and highlighting value ranges are the two main tips from Swizzels for retailers who want to make the most of Veganuary.

Family value pie packs

STRESSING that it’s a family business with family values, Bells Food Group reckons its products help bring families together at meal times. The Shotts-based company...
Unilever is trialling paper packaging for its Pot Noodle Chicken & Mushroom offering.

Pot Noodle on sustainability mission

Unilever is trialling paper packaging for the most popular flavour of its Pot Noodle brand in a bid to cut its use of plastics and so be more eco-friendly.

Clean energy pledge

TREASURY Wine Estates – the firm behind Wolf Blass, Lindeman’s and 19 Crimes – has committed to using 100% renewable electricity by 2024 across its global operations.

Ask the Expert – Danfoss

Gareth Ash, marketing communications manager at Danfoss, offers retailers insights and solutions to help make their stores more sustainable.
Highland Spring Sparkling new packaging design

A sparkling new bottle

Scottish bottled water brand Highland Spring has given its sparkling range a packaging refresh.
Green Tourism

Top tips for a green life

GREEN Tourism, the sustainable tourism certification programme, has produced a list of top tips for convenience retailers who want to make their businesses more...
Lagg Distillery Isle of Arran

Second distillery opens on Arran

Almost 25 years since it was founded, the Isle of Arran Distillery has opened its second distillery on the island.
Kilombero Rice

Paisley wholesaler is most ethical

Paisley-based fair trade wholesaler Just Trading Scotland & their farmer suppliers in northern Malawi have had cause to celebrate, after being crowned ‘most ethical rice’ by Ethical Consumer magazine.

Home grown ready meal sales soaring

Strathmore Foods has reported double-digit growth for its ready meal range, with Kantar Worldpanel figures showing 14% growth for the year to January 2017. The...
Glenmorangie distillery

Plans afoot in the glen

THERE’S a lot going on at Glenmorangie at the moment as the Highland distillery gears up to build a new still house as part of a planned expansion.

Slicing into the vegan category

VEGANS looking for a convenient hot snack with minimal fuss are catered to through the latest launch from Wall’s Pastry.
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