Glass raised to Inverarity Vaults' latest director

Paterson has been named as the new operations director at Inverarity Vaults, which has been supplying drinks to restaurants and hotels since 1991 and now has shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

After working at G1 – where he controlled drink stock across the group's properties – Paterson was brought on board at Inverarity last year as operations manager.

Managing director Hamish Martin, who founded the business with his father Ronnie, said: "James has proved an incredible asset to Inverarity.

"He has helped tighten up our operations to ensure greater efficiency across all departments. This has helped us ride out hard times, as we are expecting positive returns for 2009."

Another food and drink star cooking up a storm is Steven Scutt, who has been appointed head chef at Edinburgh's Royal Terrace Hotel.

Scutt joins the four-star hotel from the Kilted Pig and the Fat Cow, at which he introduced diners in the Scottish capital to the "exotic delights" of snake, crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo.

He had previously worked in the Borders – at the Roxburghe Hotel and Golf Course and at the Queen's Hotel in Kelso – before becoming executive chef for the Festival Inns Group.

Following last month's news that Alex McLaren, one of Begbies Traynor's "fraud fighters" in Scotland, had been elected vice-president of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), it looks like he has a new sidekick.

Tom Stocker, an Edinburgh-based partner in the litigation and dispute resolution team at law firm McGrigors, has been appointed the ACFE's Scots law legal officer.

Stocker said: "Corruption and fraud issues are increasingly on the agenda, with the potential for friction between businesses and government agencies on this matter likely to get worse rather than better. It is a privilege to be asked to contribute my knowledge to the important work of the ACFE."