Health drive shifts gear

SGF programme eyes more categories
a snappy shopper deliver person carries two shopping bags out of a store

Tech solutions tackling waste

Snappy Shopper has teamed up with reduced price goods app Gander in a bid to reduce food waste.
Glenfiddich, whisky,

Master of its own destiny

MALT whisky brand Glenfiddich is celebrating its 126th birthday with a global advertising push that celebrates the brand’s many years of family-owned independence. The strapline,...
Scotty Brand neeps and tatties, an easy -to-prepare Burns Supper accompaniment.

Sales rising off the pie chart

NEW Year, celebrated just a few days ago, is marked in many houses by a family dinner where steak pie is the star of...

Meet the maker: Jimmy’s Iced Coffee

Jim Cregan, founder of Jimmy's Iced Coffee, sat down with Scottish Grocer to talk about the history of his brand and ambitions for the future.

Beer in the city

DUNDEE could be about to ride the craft beer wave as planning permission has been granted to 71 Brewing for the creation of a...
The Cheeky Panda toilet roll

Clean the green way

Sustainable options remain important considerations for consumers across the board, even when it comes to cleaning the house.
Belhaven beer

Local brews go down well

BELHAVEN is in the ascendancy in the Scottish off trade, according to the East Lothian brewery’s marketing controller Steven Sturgeon.
Perfectly Clear

The world of health

WE’RE often told that health considerations are increasingly important to food and drink shoppers. According to figures from the global retail research firm HIM...
Michael Ballantyne UWA Tequila

Intoxicating new spirits

Scotland's first tequila company has unveiled a new range and a UK distribution deal, as it targets a wider audience.
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,...
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.
Vitalite

Big demand for dairy free

Dairy-free fever is spreading in the UK. Kantar data for the year to 5 September revealed 45% volume sales growth for dairy-free spreads, with the category now valued at £49.6m annually in the UK.

Going right at the lights

BREAKFAST cereal Weetabix has put its nutritional details on its pack fronts using the new “traffic light” system. Quoting Shopper’s Voice research, Weetabix says almost...
nestle-go-free-cereal

Gluten free is going mainstream

Only 1% of gluten free shoppers do it for health

Planting some pastry options

Motivations to stick to plant-based diets will stay strong with consumers despite rising costs, says a boss at The Compleat Food Group.