Stephen Jardine: Folk who joke about fried Mars bars made to eat their words

When the Scottish Government announced its targets for the food and drink sector, the industry gave a collective gulp.

The stated aim was to grow industry turnover from £10 billion to £12.5bn by 2017. Against a background of continuing economic recession, it seemed an ambitious task but these latest figures show the food and drink sector is powering ahead.

All of this stems from a confidence in the core product. In London restaurants are continuing to close, but in Scotland we’ve seen a ripple of new openings, all based around continuing strong demand for produce that is now seen as some of the best in the world.

On top of that, the premium end of the sector has prospered through the recession with whisky exports stronger than ever.

Commercial salmon production is also booming with a 12 per cent increase in production last year.

Alongside the individual producers around the country who have worked so hard to produce world-class food and drink, the Scottish Government’s National Food and Drink Policy for the first time gave focus to an economically and geographically diverse sector.

In Richard Lochhead, Scotland also has a government minister who understands the food and drink business and is respected by the industry.

Many businesses around Scotland still face tough trading conditions, and manufacturing capacity also needs attention to ensure growth doesn’t slow because of a lack of processing. But the overall achievement is remarkable. Twenty years ago Scottish food was a deep fried joke. Now, food and drink is one of our best performing economic sectors.

l Stephen Jardine is co-founder of Taste Communications PR