SF-Confectionery-2020

20 WHATWORKS FOR US @specialityfood Buying for your demographic is crucial, so what tempts your customers? Three retailers share their approaches EMMA NIVEN , OWNER OF LOCH LEVEN’S LARDER, KINROSS of year we can really showcase the short food miles and the freshness and provenance. Beyond that, a big thing for me is just finding really high quality produce around the UK and Europe. ...OUR CUSTOMERS Visiting us is a day out for most of our customers, but we do also have a customer base of locals. Tourism has grown, but in Covid times we’re hearing more English, Scottish and Irish accents than usual. I’d say the ethical side of things is very important to our customers, particularly the ingredients that are going into chocolates. We definitely say no to palm oil, and an interest in vegan is definitely really growing in customers requests as well. ...OUR CONFECTIONERY We have an own-label bar made for us by Choc Affair, and this Christmas we’ve ordered a special one thanking people for staying local and supporting us. That’s a ‘thank you’ we’re giving out to shoppers. A more important focus for us than own-label is to showcase producers and highlight to our customers where a product is coming from. Giving local producers their own identity matters; we’re a food hub where 60- plus local independent suppliers get to show off what they can do. We have a couple of exceptional Scottish companies we work with: Mrs Tilly’s and Gordon & Durward. They do beautifully handmade produce here in Scotland. Confectionery is one of the things, I think, that people really like to treat themselves with. It has to be of a really high quality for people not to walk past it. The provenance and the ingredients are crucial in what we stock confectionery-wise. It doesn’t always come down to price, it’s the quality of ingredients and care that’s gone into it ...OUR BUSINESS We’re in a beautiful food hall position in Central Scotland, equidistant between Edinburgh and Sterling. We have a bakery that makes a lot of our treats and tray bakes. Our food hall is full of British and international products but with a very strong focus on Scottish food and also food-to-fork. We grow our own vegetables here, so this time