Scottish food and drink firms benefit from Bidfood boost

Three Scottish makers of healthier food and drink products now have more than 400 new customers between them, just six months after securing a listing with foodservice outfit Bidfood Scotland.
Growers Garden has secured business from dozens of new customers. Picture: ContributedGrowers Garden has secured business from dozens of new customers. Picture: Contributed
Growers Garden has secured business from dozens of new customers. Picture: Contributed

Seaweed company Shore, broccoli crisp brand Growers Garden and craft soda maker the Start-Up Drinks Lab were selected from dozens of other small producers after a call out from Bidfood for companies behind sustainable and healthy food and drink.

Shore is expanding its sales team and introducing new products, to build on the UK-wide distribution.

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Growers Garden has secured business from dozens of new customers including the NHS. The firm is reformulating its products to increase the fresh broccoli content and is looking to roll out new products in 2020.

Shore is expanding its sales team and introducing new products, to build on the UK-wide distribution. Picture: ContributedShore is expanding its sales team and introducing new products, to build on the UK-wide distribution. Picture: Contributed
Shore is expanding its sales team and introducing new products, to build on the UK-wide distribution. Picture: Contributed

Start Up Drinks Lab has extended its range, seen sales and turnover increase and is now hiring a full-time “brand ambassador”.

Fast track

Bidfood Scotland’s supplier development manager, Katie Sillars, said: “Having access to our network of customers gives innovative, new businesses like these three, a fast track to reach a very wide customer base and helps to support local jobs as well as the Scottish economy. In time, some of these small producers may even pick up a national UK listing.”

Keith Paterson, director of Shore, said: “This listing has opened up a lot of new opportunities for us and allowed us to reach new customers right across Scotland that we would never have been able to reach by ourselves.”

Hannah Fisher, co-founder of the Start-Up Drinks Lab, added: “Bidfood’s approach to a new start-up business like ourselves has been innovative, both in terms of how we won the listing with them and how they’ve supported us thereafter. We’ve seen sales and turnover increase as a result, which has obviously been fantastic.”