Results of a two-year program led by Seafood Scotland in which 64 Scottish seafood companies added value to their products or processes were announced on Wednesday.
The “Value Added” project was funded jointly by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise, Aberdeenshire Council and the European Fisheries Fund.
“The program created 110 new jobs and secured a number of others in our fishing dependent communities,” said Libby Woodhatch, CEO of Seafood Scotland. “It also resulted in increased turnover for 82 percent of the companies involved, with 22 percent reporting increases in excess of GBP 50,000 per year. The combined total increase was almost GBP 2 million.
The program proved to be excellent value for money, with an average project spend of GBP 2,140 per company returning between GBP 28k and GBP 37k each,” she continued. “This equates to a 13 to 17 fold return on the initial funding expenditure.”
Companies were given up to five days of fully funded assistance from a consultant to undertake work that included re-engineering of packaging, development of branding strategies, creation of new seafood lines for foodservice or retail, extension of shelf life for existing products, and design and development of promotional literature. Among the benefits were new retail and wholesale business opportunities, new product development and the creation/protection of jobs.
Argyll Smokery, Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, North Bay and Orkney Fisheries are just a few of the companies that participated in the project.
“We used the funding to set up a website and to undertake new product development for value added seafood,” said North Bay’s Gordon Rennie. “Our smoked langoustines have since gained support from some of the UK’s top chefs, and they have appeared on two TV programs.”
The program enabled new smokehouse venture the Argyll Smokery to gain its SALSA (safe and local supplier accreditation) certificate this summer, which immediately opened up opportunities to supply their award-winning products into in a local Waitrose store.
“A targeted boost in funding made a big difference to these businesses in tough trading times. It helped them to identify cost effective solutions that either sustained or increased growth above the industry norm over the past few years,” said Iaian Sutherland, food and drink development manager for HIE, the main funder of the program.
A second phase of the program is now up and running and focuses on maximizing value. It encourages companies to reduce energy costs, improve process capability, reduce product giveaway, manage waste, and seek SALSA, BRC and MSC chain-of-custody accreditation to help them improve retail capacity.
