Press release -
Chews Glasgow!
Over 100 representatives from hospitality businesses in Glasgow attended VisitScotland’s Glasgow Food and Drink Showcase at the city’s Drygate Brewing Company this week.
The event brought local firms together to share ideas on how to capitalise on the business opportunities presented by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, which is designed to boost economic growth by promoting Scotland’s outstanding natural larder.
Attendees listened to a series of informative and inspirational presentations from speakers including VisitScotland’s Regional Partnerships Director Liz Buchanan and Taste Our Best Quality Assurance Scheme Manager Patrick O’Shaughnessy.
Liz highlighted the importance of the food and drink industry to Scottish tourism – which is worth £13.9bn a year. The range of business support VisitScotland provides, such as its bespoke online food and drink business toolkit, and value of involvement in the Taste Our Best scheme were outlined by Patrick.
James Rusk, chair of the innovative tourism service initiative Glasgow Welcomes and owner of the Butchershop Bar & Grill and Hutchesons restaurants, Johnny Aitken, owner of the Riverhill Deli & Café, Coffee Shop and Courtyard Restaurant, and Warren Bader, owner of honey producers Plan Bee, shared their personal experience and insight into ways of building business reputation and profits by using and promoting quality regional produce and local suppliers.
Fiona Richmond, Project Manager of Scotland Food & Drink emphasised that food and drink is Scotland’s fastest-growing sector and spoke on the long-standing heritage of Scotland’s great culinary specialties and the increasing importance of and interest in provenance.
Liz Buchanan, VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director, said:
“Glasgow’s restaurant scene is already known for its quality, and our Glasgow Food & Drink Showcase showed that local producers are every bit as vigorous, innovative and diverse as the excellent city venues we enjoy them in.
“Research tells us that visitors will pay up to 15% more for traditional dishes and fresh local produce, so our natural larder has a huge role to play in growing our economy. The Year of Food and Drink 2015 is a celebration of that, so let’s all shout louder about the story of our food from farm to fork!”
Fiona Richmond, Scotland Food & Drink Project Manager said: “Scotland boasts some of the most wonderful produce in the world and throughout this Year of Food & Drink we have a fantastic opportunity to promote our incredibly diverse natural larder and the superb quality of our products, not only to our visitors but to our local markets.
“It is fantastic that so many local businesses are embracing that and have a real appetite for making the most of the business opportunities presented by the very strong position we are in.”
James Rusk, chair of innovative tourism service initiative Glasgow Welcomes and owner of The Butchershop Bar & Grill and Hutchesons Bar & Brasserie restaurants, added: “It was amazing to see so many local Glasgow suppliers and businesses attending the Glasgow Food and Drink Showcase event, demonstrating the level of commitment there is in the industry locally to build on our already strong offering and capitalise of the Year of Food and Drink.
“As an industry we need to promote Scottish provenance as a priority to our customers in all forms of communication from traditional to digital, down to our staff looking after our guests. By sharing Scotland’s fantastic natural larder and fresh local produce unique stories we can further build on our reputation for excellence, enhance the visitor experience and attract even more visitors to the city.”
-Ends-
Accompanying image shows: Fiona Richmond of Scotland Food & Drink, Glasgow restauranteur and chair of the Glasgow Welcomes quality service initiative, James Rusk, and VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director Liz Buchanan.
For further information contact:
Mon - Thurs
Ellen Drummond Ferroni, VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 0141 566 4019 / 07801 820757; Email: ellen.drummondferroni@visitscotland.com
Thurs & Fri
Sharon Makepeace, VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 01387 245 564/07771 981 236; Email: sharon.makepeace@visitscotland.com
Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- year of food and drink
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015
- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
