Lidl teams up with family baker to take the biscuit

Discount retailer Lidl has launched a Scottish shortbread in partnership with a third-generation family Aberdeenshire baker in a £150,000 deal.

Duncans of Deeside MD Paul Duncan with colleagues Monika Sarvajcz (left) and Szilvia Szabo. Picture: Katielee Arrowsmith.

The German chain and Duncan’s of Deeside have worked over the last six months to hone their first collaboration. Lidl’s head of regional buying for Scotland Paul McQuade said it is “firmly committed to supporting and championing local producers”.

The tie-up comes after the bakery firm attended a Lidl Meet the Buyer event in September, and said it has seen significant growth in the last five years, currently employing 28 craft bakers.

Paul Duncan, MD of Duncan’s of Deeside, said: “We have been in business for over 30 years and our move to our new bakery in Laurencekirk means we are able to reach a much wider market in the UK and overseas. My father and I are very much part of daily life in the bakery.”

“We are delighted to develop this delicious new product as our first UK supermarket branded product... The security and certainty provided by our partnership with Lidl has enabled us to invest in and substantially grow our business by purchasing new equipment and increasing our supplier orders.”